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You never quite understood nor knew how to describe it, but the airport always left you in amazement. The environment, the people. It was like jumping from one place to another. It had a rush, it had chaos, yet there were times you stopped to admire.
Seeing friends and families greeting each other after long journeys or waving their goodbyes to have a safe journey out of the country. It had a certain beauty to it.
As you waited for your daily coffee while chatting with the barista, you noticed a little boy, giggling and hiding behind you.
"Can you help me scare my uncle?" he beamed up at you with curious brown eyes. He had dirty blonde almost light brown fluffy hair. You checked your watch. Still plenty of time and if not, an excuse will always cover it.
"Sure thing kiddo, how does he look like?" You looked down at him, also smiling. Oh, how you loved to be a partner in crime for little kids and their mischief.
"There! That's him!" he whisper-yelled while pointing. Your eyes followed to see the man. He was tall and bulky. A little intimidating, but that quickly disappeared as he frantically spun around, clearly looking for something, or rather someone.
He had dark blonde hair. It was messy, a bit longer but neatly trimmed. Over the bottom half of his face was a face mask. It had a jaw skull imprinted on it. The rest of his attire was normal. A blue t-shirt, pair of camo slacks and combat shoes. Over his shoulder was a black army backpack. As he spots you, he runs up to you.
Oh. Right. You are part of airport security. Of course, he will go to you for help if he’d lost a child. Before either of you could say something, the little boy jumped from behind you.
"RAHH!!" he screamed, his hands up in the air looking like claws and making a mean look on his face. The only thing to you, it looked utterly adorable rather than scary.
As for his uncle, he almost had a heart attack, and you had to fight the urge to laugh by slowly taking a sip from your coffee. Morning caffeine is the best caffeine.
"Jacob you gotta stop running off like that mate!" His uncle lectured the boy, Jacob, who was still giggling at his accomplishment "I scared you good, didn't I?" he beamed "The hell you did." his uncle crossed his arms and his eyes looked up back at me.
"Did he drag you into this?" he asked taking Jacobs's hand in his. Probably so he can't run off again "I am no snitch, everyone knows snitches get stitches." you smiled at them, to which Jacob giggled again. The uncle signed and shook his head, but you could still see the amusement in his body language. His eyes were brighter and even though you couldn't see under the mask, you knew he was smiling.
"Uncle Si! Look! Look! A plane!" As soon as he said that he was pressed up against a nearby window. There was a plane rolling up taxi way and up the runway "Thank you for keeping an eye out for him." he thanked you "It's nothing really. Gotta keep people safe. Part of the job no?"
You said as you tapped your shoulder. He looked to be questioning for a moment but as you turned a bit he understood. On the back of your jacket was written in big silver letters 'AIRPORT SECURITY' "Then I should thank you for entertaining him. That is not part of your job, or is it?" he joked a bit, which made you chuckle "No, but who can say no to little child mischief like that?" you retorted back which earned you a smile from that mysterious man.
"Uncle Si! You are gonna miss it! Come on!!" Jacob run around you and Grabbed his uncle, pulling him to the window "Have a nice da- Alright that's enough you cheeky muppet!" The uncle playfully picked up Jacob and brought him over his shoulder in one swing, causing the kid to burst into a fit of giggles.
"You too." you called to them before heading towards your assigned gate. Not before dropping your backpack at the break room. Leaving your essentials in your pockets, the gloves and phone, and the drink in your hand. With that, you arrived at the gate to greet your colleagues.
There aren't many planes today so it will be a slow day. You checked passengers for two full planes. Now it was deciding who will be staying and who will be assigned to the next gate. As your name rang through, you were lucky to stay. Other pairs had to go to different gates. You couldn't help but tease them as they were going to the not so favorite gates.
You all bid your farewells and good lucks before you began chatting with your partner, Sam. He was telling you about his plans for summer and you shared some of yours. It was calm moments like these that you loved about the job as well.
"Alrighty next flight is Glasgow, 43 passengers only." the head of the gate announced "Only 43? Who's flying? easyJet?" Sam asked confused "I think it's jet2." you answered and got to your position before the walk-through-metal-detector, in short WTMD. He soon followed.
"Usually these flights are packed." he wondered out loud, where you only hummed in response. The flow of people was steady and soon almost everyone was present and seated at the gate.
"How many left?" You called towards an assistant who was scanning the boarding passes "Eight people" she announced. You nodded and walked back to your post. As you did the metal detector beeped loudly "Alrighty, ma'am what do you have in your pockets?" Sam joked.
"Oh you know, just a gun and a grenade" you dramatically flipped your jacket as if you were pulling out a gun "Hands in the air!" you pointed your finger gun at him, but soon you both started laughing. Ah, good times.
"Can my nephew have a drink on board or do we need to throw it away?" That voice... your eyes followed the figure standing at the prep with another assistant. It was Jacob and his uncle. As they were prepared to go through, they both noticed you.
"Hello, nice lady!" Jacob waved his hand quickly, making you smile "Hi." you gave the man a nod in a greeting which he returned "Alright, I'll go first and then you'll wait for a signal to go too. Got it?" he instructed his nephew "Yes uncle Si!" he answered with a salute or an attempt. As the uncle walked through, an alarm rang. Thankfully it was a random check.
"My colleague will check you. It's just a random check-up. Nothing to worry about." you smiled at him before he moved the side "Alright come on little man" You kneeled on the ground to be a little bit to the same height as the kid. He walked through and yet again the machine gave those three beeps. Another random check. And from the side, you can hear a positive alarm for explosives.
Great...
"Well looks like my colleagues will have to do a pat down." you sighed and looked at the man. He seemed to be thinking "Is it possible for it to detect gunpowder?" He asked.
"Sometimes it does detect it but it could also be from hand sanitizer or cologne." I explained. Then I remembered "The little one will also need to get tested." I announced and turned to Sam who was already prepping the next test strip to work with.
"Is..is there a possibility for you to do it?" he asked, clearly not very keen on Sam to be touching the kid "Well, if that's what you want." "Yes, I feel like he will be less scared if you'd do it." you looked down and noticed him. Jacobs's eyes were still wide and full of wonder but there was something else too "Sure thing." I assured him and left Sam to take care of the rest of the pat down.
"Hey little guy, long time no see." you smiled as you kneeled down again "Yeah." he was now timid "Don't worry this will be quick. Show me hands like this." you demonstrated with your own hands. He did as he saw.
"Okay, now the other side." you turned your hands for him to see. He copied "Wonderful. Now show me your shoes." he smiled and showed his sneakers "Uncle Si gave them to me on my birthday!" He said proudly.
"That's awesome. They also look super duper cool." you said as you swiped around the shoes with the test strip "Okay, now we'll put this in a machine and see the results okay?" Jacob nodded eagerly.
"Stay here I'll be back." you walked a bit back to the next testing device and placed the strip inside, praying that the test wouldn't be positive, but the red screen was enough to tell. Thankfully this device was on mute. You glanced up at Sam. He was almost done with the pat down for the uncle.
"We'll need also to search your nephew as well..." You announced wearily as you made your way towards them. Not a lot of parents are comfortable with pat downs on kids and you don't know how they'll react.
"Could you also do it?" he asked, hopeful "Even though it's not standard, you, as the child's guardian want it so that's where we comply.” this answer seemed to calm him.
"Okay little man, I need you to take those shoes off. We're going to give you a little pat down as we did to your uncle." he did as you told him. Sam grabbed the shoes and put them on the belt off the x-ray.
"Am I in trouble?" Jacob asked unsurely "No, you are not. Trust me. It's only for safety. How about we turn this into a little game hm? What do you say?" his eyes were now excited.
"What game?" he wondered "You know the game 'Simon says?’" you asked and a huge grin spread along his face "Alright, arms spread." you tested to which the boy didn't move, making me chuckle, "Simon says arms spread." and with that he did. You quickly worked on the pat down, kneeling back down.
"Simon says turn around." he did but had his arms down "Simon says keep arms up, he didn't say put them down yet" you joked to which Jacob squeaked a little sorry. "No worries." You checked the back and now only needed to check the feet.
"Alright Foot up." Jacob looked at you smiling "Foot up." you said more demanding but still playful, to which Jacob only shook his head "Alright, Simon says foot up" he did as told, "Simon says second foot up." and with that the pat down was complete.
"Simon says end of the game. Good job kiddo! High five?" you asked with hand held up.
Jacob wasted no time smacking the hand and then hugging you tightly around your neck. Your ears picked up little awes from the other passengers and some of your colleagues. You patted Jacob on the back before he pulled away, happily skipping to his uncle. They were already done searching through all the stuff and were ready to go.
"Bye-bye, nice lady!!" Jacob waved and his uncle gave a small wave as a goodbye too. Since you were done you grabbed yourself lunch and walked to the gate. You liked to sit there and watch the planes. It was relaxing. As you watched another plane to take off you felt a wight next to you. It was Jacob's uncle. You noticed Jacob playing with two other kids in the kid's corner.
"I just wanted to thank you for... doing the check instead of the others." he said and you smiled "It's no problem. Some parents are antsy about it and I get it. It's not pleasant to get your kid checked like that but rules are rules." he hummed and you noticed something in his hand, a military ID card "That would explain the alarm..." he looked at you confused.
"You're from the military, a lot of people from there get those alarms and since you were spending a lot of time with your nephew, I'm not surprised some of that ended up on his clothes." you explained and looked up at him.
"Still, I wanna thank you because he wasn't very...how to say it... open-minded to a lot of people. He only chooses which can be so close to him and that hug he gave you? I haven't seen that in while." He explained.
That all got you thinking and raised a smile to your lips. You glanced again at the kids as they played "May I know your name? He'll probably bug me about it since he saw I was coming to sit here with you and, well, because we wanna let the airport know they have a wonderful staff." he scratched behind his neck, avoiding your eyes. Was he... nervous?
"Well, we are not allowed to give our names directly..." at that, his shoulders fell with a sigh. Was he disappointed? "However, sometimes rules can be broken." You nudged him a little and you swear you saw bits of pink under the mask. As you told him your name, he repeated it to himself.
"It's a nice name. It has a nice ring to it." he complimented. As you were to ask what's his name, the last call rang through the gate calling the last passengers to board. Before he got up he took one last look at you.
"Thank you again, have a good rest of the shift." he smiled and left, leaving a piece of paper behind. You were about to chase after him, but you discovered there was something written on the front. It read 'For you'.
As you opened it, you smiled. There was a drawing of you from Jacob with the title 'The besT sekuryTi agenT'. Aside from the misspelling, it was adorable. Inside there was also a little note. It was different handwriting, definitely an adult one. It was a number and you could feel your cheeks heating up as you read the message…
‘Names Simon R. until next time love’
And you wondered when it will be as you saved the contact in your phone, smiling as you watched their plane take off.