Work Text:
Yunho sits at his station in the ATC tower, headset snug over his ears as he monitors the air traffic on his screen. The control room is filled with bright sunlight through the large windows, multiple radar screens filled with lines that show flight paths and flight numbers. Seonghwa, sitting beside him at his own station, sips his coffee lazily as he monitors his own flights he was assigned to. The room was calm and collected, that is, until San comes into the picture, his smile spelling nothing but trouble.
“Your boy is in the air,” San announces, sliding into his seat beside Seonghwa with a playful grin.
Yunho doesn’t even glance up from where he was looking, holding a hand up to wave him off like he was an annoying fly. “I don’t have a boy.”
Seonghwa scoffs. “You sure? Because the way you hyper focus on one specific flight number or airplane type every time he’s scheduled-”
“...is very suspicious,” Hongjoong finishes, appearing behind them with a wheezing laugh.
Yunho ignores them, adjusting his headset so he could communicate and hear properly. “Flight 5821, this is ATC. Do you copy?”
The radio crackles before an all too familiar deep voice comes through loud enough for the room to hear through Yunho’s headset, all smooth and too casual for what the job was as if they weren't way up in the sky flying a plane.
"Copy Tower. Hey, Yun, how’s the weather up there?"
Yunho rolls his eyes. "Mingi, I’m an air traffic controller, not your personal weather app."
“So… cloudy with a chance of missing me?”
Seonghwa chokes on his coffee, nearly spitting it out as he tries to keep down a laugh. Yunho shoots him a glare while the rest of the team snickers in amusement.
“Stay professional, 5821,” Yunho says flatly, pretending his ears aren’t heating up as he looks at his clipboard at the flight map. “Continue on your assigned path.”
Mingi hums into the mic, the sound vibrating through Yunho’s headset in a way that makes his fingers tighten around his pen.
“Roger. Love it when you’re bossy.”
“Muted,” Yunho grumbles with an eyeroll as he immediately clicks off Mingi’s frequency, the entire ATC team now erupting into laughter.
Seonghwa leans back in his chair, shaking his head after calming down from laughter. “Yeah. No crush at all.”
Yunho pulls off his headset, raising a hand as if he’s about to smack Seonghwa’s coffee out of his hand but instead he groans and collapses back into his seat. He knows there’s no escape from the relentless teasing.
San shakes his head, starting to work on his own set of flights to help taxi onto the runway. “You two are so silly, I swear.”
Meanwhile 30,000 feet in the air, Mingi sits in the cockpit smoothly handling the controls as the plane soars through the open clear skies. The horizon stretches endlessly before them, a beautiful sight that never got old to Mingi.
Yeosang, seated in the copilot’s chair, looks over with a knowing smirk, watching the way Mingi handles the aircraft with his usual cockiness.
“You fly so much more differently when Yunho’s on duty,” Yeosang remarks, looking over at the altitude and heading to make sure they were still on their flight path.
Mingi raises a brow, flicking switches to get the plane back straight. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Yeosang shrugs. “You’re always a little extra when we’re flying together by being a bit reckless and cocky for the hell of it but with Yunho? Wow, who knew you could do smoother landings and maneuvers like butter. Even your radio chatter gets worse.”
Mingi gives Yeosang a shit eating grin, sitting back in his seat as he adjusts his sunglasses on his face. “You’re saying I perform better when I know he’s listening? That’s interesting as hell.”
“I’m saying you’re painfully obvious about it, anyone who probably flew with you could agree with me,” Yeosang deadpans.
Mingi sighs, pretending to be bored. “Look, I just enjoy our little chats. I really can’t help it if Yunho gets all flustered, which is like all the time.”
Yeosang eyes him. “And the fact that you drag out our post flight checklists just to keep talking to him?”
“That’s called thorough professionalism,” Mingi says, shrugging as if it was an innocent act as he watches out of the window as well.
Yeosang shakes his head. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”
✢✢✢
It’s Yunho’s day off, which means he should be sitting on his couch with his legs stretched out as he absently scrolls through his phone looking at memes. An action movie plays on the TV, the sound blending into the background but he isn’t watching at all, even though it’s his favorite superhero movie. His fingers move on their own, pulling up the ATC app and logging in with his employee credentials.
He tells himself it’s out of habit and it’s just a normal air traffic controller thing. It’s good to stay aware of the airspace, even when he’s off duty. It’s not like he’s specifically looking for anything…
Flight 5821. Mingi’s usual flight.
Yunho clicks on it before he can stop himself, watching as the live radar updates showing its altitude, speed, and route for the day. His eyes lock on the status bar which says that the flight is on time. He sighs, as if confirming the flight is running smoothly puts his mind at ease. But that would be ridiculous, right? He’s not checking because he’s worried about Mingi. No, no. It’s just professional curiosity.
Oh, totally…
His phone suddenly pings, making him flinch. He glances at the notification.
Sannie: Did you just check Mingi’s flight status on your day off?
Yunho freezes. How the hell would they even know-
Another ping comes in, and Yunho looks at the next message bubble.
Sannie: We can see your login activity, dumbass...
Yunho facepalms, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. He totally forgot that could happen, and he wouldn’t have put it past Hongjoong and Seonghwa, who were the senior supervisors of their team, to expose his actions.
Woo: LMAO YOU’RE DOWN BAD
Hwa: Just confess already, Yunho. This is embarrassing.
Yunho groans, muttering curses under his breath. He glares at his phone in his hands as if it personally betrayed him, then throws it onto the couch beside him. He’s not checking because he cares. He’s not! It’s just routine.
Routine… on his day off.
Yunho buries his face into a couch pillow and screams.
✢✢✢
Yunho is midway through directing a series of landings, eyes looking over the radar screens as he carefully plans out flight paths. His headset is snug over his ears, his voice professional and confident as he communicates with an inbound flight.
“Flight 2230, maintain current altitude and proceed to Runway 4. Wind speeds are stable enough for you so you’d be good to go.”
The pilot confirms what Yunho said to them, and Yunho quickly moves to the next. He’s in the zone until a familiar voice comes in through his headset.
“Hey, Yuyu.”
Yunho closes his eyes briefly to gather what patience he had, already knowing he was going to need every ounce of it dealing with Mingi. Yunho sighs, focusing on the screen again to track Mingi’s flight. “What now, Mingi?”
“Important question,” Mingi says, his tone completely serious. “What’s your favorite in flight snack?”
Yunho stares blankly at the screen in front of him with an offended look. Did Mingi just hijack an emergency frequency for this?
Seonghwa, who had been quietly reviewing a flight log, raises an eyebrow and glances over at Yunho. Hongjoong, seated at another desk near the front with Seonghwa, doesn’t even bother to look up and just shakes his head as if he expected this nonsense.
“Mingi, this is an emergency frequency.” Yunho says, rubbing his temples.
“So pretzels, then?”
Yunho refuses to entertain this conversation and let Mingi’s antics derail his workflow. “I’m muting you.”
“You never do.”
Yunho makes direct eye contact with Seonghwa and for the first time actually mutes him, smashing the button extra hard for emphasis. San and Wooyoung lose their minds at this. Wooyoung nearly chokes on his tea as he doubles over with laughter, while San slaps his knee dramatically.
“Oh my god, he actually did it,” San wheezes.
“I feel like I just witnessed a historic event,” Jongho gasps, clutching his chest. “Mark this day guys.”
Seonghwa snorts, going back over his logs. “That’s how you know it’s been a long shift.”
Yunho presses his fingers against his temple again, already feeling a headache forming. He swears he can still hear Mingi laughing through the muted connection even without the audio.
It was going to be a very long week.
✢✢✢
The usual chatter of air traffic filled the tower, a constant background noise to Yunho’s thoughts. His headset chimed with the familiar sound of his regular pilots checking in along with some new ones who were from different countries, but his attention was elsewhere on the tarmac below.
Mingi was walking toward his plane to board it, the late afternoon sun casting a soft glow on everything. Yunho had seen him like this countless times before yet it never failed to catch him off guard. The tailored pilot uniform hugged Mingi’s frame perfectly, emphasizing the way he had filled out since their high school days. The navy blue fabric sat snugly against his broad shoulders, the silver accents gleaming under the light. His cap sat at just the right tilt, adding to the confidence he exuded so well, not to mention the matching navy blue slacks that hugged his thighs so well. Yunho swallowed hard.
He wasn’t the only one watching. A few flight attendants were walking behind him openly admiring Mingi as he passed. Yunho could tell that they were giggling based on how their shoulders shook and their hands came up to cover their mouths, probably whispering among themselves about how hot he was or something. He felt a pang in his chest. He had no right to feel that way and yet, there it was.
Mingi glanced up suddenly to look toward where the towers were, locking eyes with Yunho through the glass. It wasn’t the first time that this happened so it was sort of routine in a way. Yunho knew he watched too much and Mingi had noticed before, always with that knowing smirk and a playful salute before disappearing into the plane to go into the cockpit. Yunho sighs, forcing himself back into the present.
“You’re staring again.”
Seonghwa’s voice broke through his daze, filled with amusement as he leaned against the wall looking at Yunho. Yunho scoffed and rolled his eyes, adjusting his headset on his ears as if it would somehow hide his shame. “I was monitoring takeoff procedures.”
“Ah sure,” Seonghwa teases. “You’re monitoring Mingi’s takeoff procedures and the plane isn’t even on and he just got onto it, right...”
Yunho ignored him, but the smirk on Seonghwa’s face said he wasn’t fooled. Instead, he turned his focus back to the control panel, though his mind was already slipping into the past.
Flight school had been different from anything he has ever been through his entire academic life. Yunho had been the better pilot at first with good textbook technique, and Mingi had been the instinct driven one that was reckless at times but with an uncanny ability to make split second decisions that always seemed to work out, and it scared Yunho but also impressed him.
They had spent nights studying together going over manuals and flight simulations whether it was on their at home game consoles to the actual simulations they did in school. Yunho could still remember Mingi’s frustrated groans when he struggled with technicalities and how he would run a hand through his hair before finally giving up and letting Yunho guide him through the concepts.
And then there had been the matching A380 model planes they had. It was a small silly gift they had given each other after passing one of their toughest exams, and it was their dream plane. Mingi still had his, Yunho had seen it once tucked beside a stack of papers in his apartment. Yunho still had his, it was on his desk and he would toy with it in his hands absently as he worked in the tower.
But then things had changed. Yunho hadn’t made it to the skies as a medical evaluation had brought up minor depth perception issues, nothing life threatening or anything that affected his daily life but it was enough to keep him grounded. He had tried to brush it off and tried to convince himself that ATC was just as important, but the first time he had watched Mingi take off without him, that feeling of jealousy had been undeniable.
“Do you regret it?” Seonghwa’s voice pulled him back to the present.
Yunho hesitated, fingers tapping idly against the console as he looks at the small toy plane on his desk. “What, staying in traffic controls?”
“Obviously. You don’t have to lie to me if you regret it, you know.”
Yunho sighed, looking over at Seonghwa with a small shrug. “I don’t regret it, exactly. I made my choice.”
“But?”
“But sometimes,” Yunho starts to admit, looking away and out of the window before him, “I wonder what it would’ve been like if things had gone differently.”
Seonghwa nodded as if he understood more than Yunho was willing to share. “You’re good at what you do, Yunho. More than that, you’re needed here. We love you and you add value.”
Yunho frowns a bit. “That’s what everyone says when they’re trying to make me feel better.”
Seonghwa gave him a look. “I’m saying it because it’s true and because you don’t give yourself enough credit.”
Yunho exhaled slowly. Maybe Seonghwa was right. Maybe he was exactly where he was supposed to be. But as he looked back at the tarmac where Mingi’s plane was beginning its taxi, he couldn’t shake the feeling that a part of him would always be somewhere up there, too.
✢✢✢
From his seat in the air traffic control tower, Yunho adjusted his headset and leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping against the desk as he watched the radar screen. His eyes naturally locked onto one particular dot moving across the display.
Mingi’s flight.
He wasn’t even supposed to be hyper focused on it, he had a dozen other aircraft to keep track of, but somehow his attention always found its way back. For some reason today, he felt a little playful this time around. A smirk appeared on Yunho’s lips as he pressed the radio button.
“Hey, fat ass.”
A scoff came through after a pause, followed by Mingi’s unmistakable lazy deep voice. “Shut up, I’m landing an A380.”
Yunho grinned, leaning forward in his seat. “You’re two hours late. At least butter this landing.” Mingi was in fact not two hours late, he was just delayed by ten minutes due to the high winds.
“Okay, Yunho, we are NOT United. At least I know how to fly.”
“‘Kay then, fly faster next time.” Yunho teased, biting his lower lip to hide the giggle that was threatening to come out.
“Oh yeah? You’re the one who let us go around three times already.”
“I wonder why,” Yunho giggles now, the smirk audible in his voice. “Maybe you should pay attention to the weight of your fat ass.”
The ATC room wasn’t even trying to hide their amusement anymore. San and Wooyoung were straight up listening in, muffling their laughter into their hands as Seonghwa massaged his temples in fake annoyance. Even Hongjoong, their supervisor, threw Yunho a side eye before sighing dramatically.
“Do we need to remind you that your job is to land all planes, not just your boyfriend’s plane?” Wooyoung decided to add in as a tease.
Yunho snapped his head toward him, feeling as if he was put on the spot. “First of all-”
Seonghwa chimed in, voice filled with sarcasm as he props his chin on his hand. “Seriously, Yunho. You have twelve aircraft in your sector and you’ve been staring at that one for the last ten minutes.”
San let out a low chuckle. “Damn. You’re down bad.”
Yunho cleared his throat, sitting up straighter trying to recover some semblance of professionalism. He tapped the radar screen with is pen to put emphasis on his words. “I’m making sure all my planes land safely, absolutely all of them. Second of all, I just have to make sure this dumbass doesn’t stall his engines trying to impress me.”
Mingi’s voice cut back in as apparently Yunho did not cut off comms, so he heard everything. “Impress you? Bro, I’ve been flying longer than you’ve been sitting pretty in that tower.”
Wooyoung immediately let out a squeaky laugh, smacking San’s arm as he doubled over. “No way he heard everything.”
Yunho froze, but then rolled his eyes, raising the headset mic to his mouth. Yunho’s ears burned, but he wasn’t about to back down. “Yeah? Then fly better next time so you can picture me cheering for you as a congrats.”
“Maybe I already do.”
Yunho’s brain short circuited for approximately three seconds. Wooyoung let out a snort, slapping San’s shoulder in amusement. Jongho, their most responsible and quiet coworker, didn’t even bother hiding his smile as he side eyed Yunho’s very obvious reaction. San whistled, fanning himself like he was witnessing the best drama of the year.
“Ohhhh, damn.” San drawls. “Did Mingi just flirt with you over the comms all brave like that?”
Hongjoong groaned. “I swear, I’m docking your pay if this turns into a soap opera.”
Meanwhile, Yunho was still recovering from the casual destruction of Mingi’s words, mouth opening and closing like he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite find the words. While this was happening, Mingi’s cargo plane came in for landing on the runway. The approach was smooth, nearly perfect except for a slight bounce on touchdown.
Yunho latched onto the imperfection instantly, finding his footing again. “Little rough there, gremlin.”
Mingi’s groan was dramatic. “Again, we’re NOT United, Yunho.”
“If you saaaaay so… just be careful next time.”
Yunho could almost hear Mingi grinning through the radio. “Maybe I will if you ask nicely.”
“Shut the hell up,” Yunho grumbled, quickly muting his mic before anyone else could add fuel to the fire. Yunho buries his face into his hands as he hears his friends giggle around him.
✢✢✢
The next day, Mingi was scheduled for another flight with a shorter passenger route, this time with Yeosang as his copilot. The airport was busy with the shift change, pilots grabbing coffee and a late lunch from the break room while ground crews prepared aircraft for their next departures. Freshly suited up and ready to head out, Mingi leaned against the counter, stirring his coffee as his eyes went toward the control tower. Through the lounge’s window, he could just make out Yunho’s silhouette at his station with his headset on and eyes glued on his monitors.
Yeosang, picking up on the distraction, followed Mingi’s gaze before shaking his head. “You really fly best when Yunho’s on duty. Maybe you should start requesting him every time.”
Mingi smirked, swirling his spoon in his cup. “I already do. And when he’s not, I make sure he notices anyway.”
Meanwhile in the tower, the ATC team wasn’t done messing with Yunho today. Seonghwa was now straight up confronting him today.
“Why is it that you only get this mad at Mingi?” he asked, arms crossed. “You tease him more than anyone else.”
Yunho looked up from his paperwork, frowning. “What?”
“You nearly lost it at him over a ten minute delay yesterday,” Jongho pointed out. “Do you even yell at your other pilots? Because I don’t think I heard you do that.”
Yunho didn’t have an answer for that. Instead, he put down his papers and turned back to his screen, pretending to be far more invested in his work and his bag of BBQ chips than he actually was. Yunho adjusted his headset, looking between radar screens as he coordinated his usual departures and arrivals for the day. Among them was one particular flight he always kept an eye on, his favorite if he had to admit it.
Mingi and Yeosang’s flight is a short haul commercial route from Incheon to Busan, a quick turnaround trip taking roughly an hour each way if the conditions were right. They’re scheduled to drop off passengers in Busan, refuel, and return to Incheon in the evening.
“Tower to A320, cleared for taxi to 27R,” Yunho radioed in, his tone businesslike.
"Roger, Tower Yunbun. Taxiing to Runway 27R," Mingi’s voice says over the radio, smooth and self assured as he always was.
Yunho cringes at the nickname, he didn’t hate it, it was overly corny but he never fought against it. He watched as the aircraft, which was a sleek commercial jet aside from Mingi’s usual A380, began its slow roll toward the runway. Yeosang, the copilot that was with Mingi every now and then, chimed in on the comms. "Looks like we’ve got a smooth ride ahead, right, Tower?"
Yunho looked over the weather reports, his brows knitting together slightly. "For now, yeah… But heads up, there’s a storm system developing over the return route for you so keep that in mind."
Mingi’s laugh came through, teasing as ever. "What, you worried about me?"
"I’m worried about my radar glitching out from your poor decision making. Just be prepared to take precautions."
"Aye aye, Captain Yun."
"Whatever, anyway, the sky is clear for now," Yunho radios over. "Shouldn’t be an issue unless you decide to take a joyride."
Mingi’s voice comes back over the radio quickly with a comeback. "A joyride sounds fun. You wanna come with me?"
"I actually would rather swan dive off of this tower," Yunho deadpans, making the ATC team and the pilots chuckle.
Yunho snorted as well as he leaned back in his chair, watching as the aircraft picked up speed and lifted off smoothly into the sky. For the next several minutes, he worked and periodically glanced at the radar to track Mingi’s flight.
He didn’t have to as there were dozens of other flights in the air and Mingi wasn’t special.
Except, he was, but Yunho hated thinking about it. Besides, Mingi wasn’t due back until way later in the day on his routine flight back home.
Meanwhile in the skies, Mingi and Yeosang were letting the autopilot guide them to their destination.
Yeosang glances at Mingi, adjusting the altitude. "You’re in a good mood today."
"What, can’t a guy be happy at work?" Mingi comments with a knowing smile, his hands on his lap as he watches Yeosang work.
"You really like getting under his skin, don’t you Mings?"
This time, Mingi didn’t bother denying it. He smirked, eyes fixed on the sky ahead. “It’s the highlight of my workday. He thinks he’s just doing his job, but I know he likes it. Even when he’s annoyed, he gets all worked up over me.”
"You mean when you make his life harder? You know he likes you, right? I can just tell from how you two bicker. He just-"
"...is the most oblivious, stubborn idiot on this planet? Yeah, I know." Mingi sighed. "It’s fun watching him try not to care, though."
Yeosang chuckled. "So, what’s your plan? Just keep poking him until he snaps?"
"Exactly. And then, we’ll see where it goes."
Yeosang sighed, adjusting a few switches. “Or… and hear me out… you could just confess instead of teasing him over the radio every single day?”
Mingi shrugged, leaning back with a smug grin. “Where’s the fun in that?”
✢✢✢
Hours later back in the control tower, Yunho leaned over the radar screen, his fingers tapping anxiously against the desk. The storm system he had been tracking earlier had worsened, growing in intensity far beyond the initial forecasts. It was bad. Way too bad.
His stomach twists as he checks the other incoming flight paths. Mingi’s evening return flight was now headed straight toward the worst of it. He swallowed hard and pressed down on the radio switch. “A320, you’re approaching some nasty turbulence. Uhm, I recommend a slight deviation to the right to avoid it.”
Mingi’s voice came through, casual as ever as if this wasn’t going to become some emergency if it wasn’t acted upon. "Mhm, I see it. I might be able to skirt the edge of it."
"Don’t chance it. Turn left immediately."
"Nah, I’ll probably make it."
"What?! A320, you can’t gamble like this with passengers on board!"
There was a moment of silence before Mingi’s chuckle came through the radio. "Relax, Yunho. I’ve got it." Mingi’s voice is full of amusement, "A little turbulence never killed anyone."
"Mingi, I swear t-"
Before Yunho can finish, static cuts through. The flight then blips off the radar. There was nothing but radio silence to be heard. Yunho’s stomach dropped as the radar failed to update no matter how many buttons he pressed. "A320, respond. Mingi, Yeosang, do you copy?"
Nothing. Not even a crackle on the radio comms. His hands clenched around his headset, his heart hammering in his chest. The rest of the ATC team around him started looking at him out of concern.
"Yunho, calm down. He’ll be fine," Seonghwa said, attempting to ground him from where he sat in the room. “It’s probably just a temporary signal loss…”
Yunho ignored him, keeping his eyes locked on the screen running through every backup frequency possible to get a response from the aircraft, his hands shaking as he turned the dial.
"Mingi, respond. A320, do you read?" His voice was firm but beneath it, desperation was bubbling up to the surface. “Damn it, respond!”
Minutes passed like hours and Yunho was about to go through emergency procedures as it felt entirely too long until finally there was contact from the aircraft, and it popped back onto his radar screen.
"Missed me already?" Mingi’s voice came back, smug as ever.
Yunho nearly collapsed in relief but not before rage took its place. "You… do you know what you just put me through?! You absolute fucking dumbass-"
"Language, Captain." Mingi laughs, all light and teasing. "Turbulence was rough, but we’re steady now. Chill out."
Yunho shakes his head, running a shaky hand through his hair. "I’m gonna kill you. Land this plane safely so I can find you and kill you myself."
As soon as Mingi’s flight landed, Yunho ripped off his headset, barked at someone to cover for him, and practically ran out of the tower and towards the airport. His legs moved before his mind could catch up, his body running on pure adrenaline and pent up terror. He didn’t care about protocol or care about anything except seeing Mingi with his own two eyes.
His heart was still pounding as he reached the arrivals gate shouldering past security and other passengers, scanning the crowd until he spotted who he wanted to see.
Mingi stepped into the gate area, holding his bag over his shoulder and looking so at ease like he didn’t just scare years off Yunho’s life.
Yunho stormed towards him red faced and trembling with fear. He grabbed him by the collar and glared at him looking right into his eyes, the two of them so close that their breaths mixed. "You fucking idiot! You could’ve fucking died…"
Mingi just smirked, absolutely unbothered by Yunho’s rage. "But I didn’t."
“That’s not the point!” Yunho’s grip on Mingi’s collar tightens. “You-”
Words fail him. His chest feels too full and his emotions are spilling all over the place. He wanted to scream at Mingi, shake him, and hold him close and cry.
He glares at Mingi, breathes in, and then something breaks inside him. He yanked Mingi closer and down towards him and pressed a hard, frustrated kiss against his lips, the kiss filled with everything Yunho couldn’t possibly say at the moment. Mingi stilled, stunned for half a second before he melted into it, returning the passion and emotions right back into it, his hands finding Yunho’s waist, grounding them both as the world around them hushed.
When Yunho pulled away, his face was flushed even more than before as his breathing was unsteady. "You’re so fucking annoying, I swear to God."
Mingi laughed, brushing Yunho’s lower lip with his thumb. "Yeah, yeah. You love me."
"Shut up, I was just very worried," Yunho muttered, his hands still curled in Mingi’s collar before letting go to smooth out his uniform.
Behind them, Yeosang coughs to get their attention, and stands there with a big smile on his face before finally clapping his hands together. "Finally, I thought I would never see the day."
Further back, the entire ATC team had gathered at the tower’s windows, binoculars in each of their hands.
"Holy shit," Wooyoung whispered.
San elbowed him. "Pay up. I told you Yunho would snap first."
Seonghwa whistles. "Well, that took forever."
Jongho grins, shaking his head. "I give them a week before Yunho has a meltdown about being in a relationship."
Hongjoong, watching Yunho and Mingi bicker fondly through his binoculars, was smiling proudly. "Best shift ever."