Chapter Text
As Jack looked out the window of the airport, he wiped the sweat of his hands on his blue hoodie. "Why do I even have to go to LA anyway?" He mumbled under his breath. "Couldn't I have just stayed at home, in Ireland, without having to fly for hours on a metal bird that had a chance of plummeting to the watery depths of the ocean?" Just the thought of a possible plane crash gave him shivers. Jack hated heights. How could everyone bustling around him through the airport be so calm? He tried everything he could in an attempt to calm himself down before the flight.
"International Airlines flight number 2739 is now boarding at gate 16," the familiar voice boomed out of the over-speakers. Jack looked down at his watch - ten more minutes. Ten more minutes, and he'd have to board that flying piece of scrap metal and trust it to make it to the other side of the Atlantic.
~
Coffee, coffee's good. Coffee might distract me. Distractions are good. Jack found himself starting to become frantic. Jack needed to keep his calm, and he knew it. He made his way to the small machine that spat out coffee after being given coins, holding the €3.50 change in the palm of his hand. After the spittering of the coffee machine, Jack slowly made his way towards the area where he would have to board the plane.
Sitting down in one of the few vacant chairs in the area, he sipped at his hot cup of coffee and watched as people bustled to and fro, trying to get to wherever they needed to be as fast as they could possibly go. Jack watched as an elderly man slowly stood up after hearing the lady on the overspeakers call another flight number. He watched a woman with short blonde hair attempt to make it through a crowd of people, almost losing her handbag twice as she got knocked into by others in the close proximity.
A man dressed in a suit and tie made his way to the still-sputtering coffee machine Jack had been at a minute before, plunking more coins into the mechanism, soon opened to the realization that he had forgotten to place a styrofoam cup under the nozzle. The man walked away from the machine with a half-filled cup of coffee and a now slightly damp set of pants.
"International Airlines flight 1622B, is now boarding at gate 9," the lady's voice sounded over the speakers. Okay, okay, it'll be fine. Jack thought to himself, standing up. He tossed his empty coffee cup in the bin on his way to gate 9. It was gat nine, right? I hope so. Oh god, what if I get it wrong? What if I'm getting on the wrong plane and I end up in Brazil? What if-
Jack's thoughts were abruptly cut off as someone from behind him decided that he was in a hurry, shoving Jack aside and letting fall to his side on the ground. Jack groaned, sitting up. Fantastic, he thought.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Jack looked up to see a man with brilliant blue hair extending his arm down to Jack. "That dude just plowed right through everyone, huh. Almost knocked me over, too." Jack smiled, taking the stranger's hand and pulling himself off of the ground. "You good?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, by the way." Jack said. The man was only a bit taller than him, with brown eyes and tan skin. Very tan when Jack compared it to his own pasty-colored skin.
"No problem," the man held out his hand for Jack to shake. "My name's Mark." Jack smiled and grabbed Mark's hand for a second time.
"Mine's Sean, but most people call me Jack," he said, shaking the man's hand.
"Well it's nice to meet you Jack. When's your flight?"
"Gate nine. They're boarding now, so I should probably go..."
"Hey, lucky me," Mark held up his boarding pass and waved it in the air in front of Jack's face. " 'International Airlines, flight number 1622B, boarding at 7:30am.' Sound right, Jack?" Jack giggled, pulling his own pass out of his pocket and looking at it. Yep, that's the one. After picking up his bag that had been lying next to him on the floor, the two men hurried to stand in line to get their boarding passes checked. It wasn't long before Mark broke the silence.
"Shit, I forgot to get my other bag from Wade," Mark mumbled, almost too quietly for Jack to hear.
"What?' Jack questioned, thinking that maybe he could help in some way.
"Oh, nothing. I just forgot to grab my bag with my cellphone and stuff from my buddy on the other side of the airport." Mark spun around, standing on the tips of his toes trying to see over people's heads and hoping to maybe spot his friend in the masses. "Well, fuck," Mark mumbled again. The blue-haired man looked like he was starting to become antsy. "Umm..." Mark started, looking back at Jack. "I'm gonna have to run and go get that. Hopefully Wade's still there. I'll see you on the plane, Jack," Mark said, waving as he left the line and hurried back through the crowd of people.
"Bye," Jack said to himself, stepping forward to the place Mark had stood. He shifted his bag further up onto his shoulder as he felt the pending nervousness about the flight ahead slowly creep back into his bones. Ugh, there goes the distractions, Jack thought, looking back over his shoulder to where Mark had disappeared into the crowd of the airport. Hopefully he won't be late.