We Could Have Been
We Could Have Been
homin; pg-13
romance
3,568 words
01. | 02. | 03.
a series of unrelated one-shots for the holidays. all homin, all love ♥
‘All passengers on Flight 2304 to Incheon International, we’re still waiting for the crew to arrive, but hopefully we’ll begin boarding shortly…’
“Yeah right, like that’s gonna be our luck,” mutters a man to Yunho’s left.
Yunho nods in agreement, the sort of vague acknowledgement you give to a stranger who’s saying what everyone’s thinking. The airport lobby is packed and the young man is seated directly next to Yunho, rather than the customary one-seat gap that’s you usually see in these sort of places, but he’s leaned away like he’s trying to give Yunho some sense of personal space.
Yunho returns to his steadfast watch of the monitors. Their flight has already been delayed for five hours. They’ve changed gates three times, changed plane and crew twice. Yunho is surprised they just haven’t cancelled it already. The snow is piled near a foot high on the tarmac; there’s no way this plane is getting off the ground.
He sighs and shifts his bag in his lap. His family had warned him flying on Christmas day would be risky, but Yunho had thought that avoiding the rush of pre-holiday traffic would help him. He would fly on Christmas morning, make it home by midday and still have most of the day to celebrate.
Instead, he’s stuck in the airport in the middle of a freak snow storm that isn’t going to let up anytime soon. At least his sister will be happy - she did want snow for Christmas.
The young man sitting to his left is fiddling with his cell phone, seemingly frustrated. He’s punching numbers when the phone sings a little tune and then the screen goes black. “Shit,” the man says under his breath, the sort of vague announcement you make to justify asking to use someone else’s phone.
He looks up and his eyes meet Yunho’s, and Yunho can already see the question forming in his eyes. His own phone is in his hand and his fingers clench around it.
“Sorry, but do you think…?” He motions to Yunho’s cell and back at his own, obviously dead phone.
Yunho smiles, not above helping a person in need. “Yeah, it’s fine.” Their fingers touch when he hands over the phone.
“Thanks so much,” the guy says in a rush, pulling it back and dialing hurriedly. Yunho tries not to listen in on the conversation but he’s sitting so close and it is his phone, anyway. The man is reassuring a friend that he’s okay and he’s coming in eventually but he doesn’t know when.
“Yeah, yeah, I promise. Seriously Jaejoong, I’m all right. Talk to you later, okay?”
The man hangs up and hands it back to Yunho with a grateful, “Thanks again. Appreciate it, really.”
“Not a problem,” Yunho says honestly. He fidgets awkwardly and feels like he should say something to follow it up. “Horrible way to spend Christmas, yeah?” he says lightly, throwing the man a smile.
“No joke. I was supposed be meeting some friends hours ago… fortunately I already celebrated with family or it would be a total waste.”
“Oh? That’s good.”
“Yeah, you?”
“Missing everything. Doesn’t look I’ll be making it, either…”
“Shame - I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
They pause, as you do when you’ve reached the end of natural conversation, and in the interim hear another announcement.
‘All passengers on Flight 2304 to Incheon International, I’m sorry to announce the crew has been delayed in transit because of the snow. We’re trying to locate another crew and will…’
The woman on the intercom keeps talking but it’s drowned out by the sudden rise of groans and grumbling from the waiting area. People are shaking their heads and gesturing angrily but Yunho just sighs.
“What did they expect?” huffs the young man.
“No idea. The snow is what I’m worried about.”
“Exactly. No telling when it’ll let up.”
Yunho fiddles with his phone, punching random patterns in a habit he’s developed ever since he got one with a touch-screen. “I was checking the weather report earlier. Seems the wind is making it worse, but that’ll hopefully die down in an hour. If we’re lucky and they don’t cancel, we could be off in another few hours.”
Out of the corner of his eye Yunho sees him roll his eyes. “Great. That’ll only get us in at, what, midnight?”
“At the very least,” Yunho says, attempting to be placating. He understands the man’s frustrations. “I’m Yunho, by the way,” he offers, extending his hand.
The other grabs his hand, giving a firm shake that Yunho feels up to his shoulder. “Changmin.”
He smiles. “Nice to meet you, even if the circumstances are less-than.”
Changmin’s returning smile seems honest, if a little forced. “Got that right.”
Yunho looks the man over. He’s tall, folded uncomfortably into his chair, and laid-back, if the over-sized hoodie and backpack are any indication. His black beanie hides most of his hair, but a few black wisps stick out around his temple, curling around the frame of his glasses. And he’s staring straight at Yunho, evidently not shy of eye contact, and if Yunho were the sort he would be blushing.
“Are you from Seoul?” he asks.
“Yep, born and raised. My parents moved down here a couple years ago, though, so I come down to visit.”
“Ah, I’m the exact opposite. My family moved to Seoul when I was in high school… I’m usually there but I come back here every once in a while.”
“Nice.” Changmin nods, and keeps nodding for apparent lack of anything to say. It makes Yunho want to chuckle.
“I may go speak to one of the desk ladies,” he says instead. “Watch my stuff?”
“Sure.”
He comes back ten minutes later with no good news. No bad news, either, but being stuck in limbo is no better. He walks up to his section of chairs and Changmin’s slouched in his seat, eyes closed and headphones fastened over his ears. His arms are crossed like he’s trying to fall asleep but as soon as Yunho sits down he’s sitting up, pulling his headphones off.
“Anything?”
“Not a thing. They said the crew was coming in from another flight and that flight couldn’t land - it had to detour back to where it came from. So now they’re looking for another crew, but at this hour…”
“It doesn’t look good.”
Yunho shakes his head.
“Just great,” he sighs, throwing himself back into his seat. “Don’t know why I expected anything different. I hate flying anyway.”
Yunho reaches over to pat his shoulder sympathetically. “Sorry, really. I don’t like it much myself.”
Changmin’s eyes slide over to look him up and down. Yunho wonders what he’s seeing, if he’s evaluating Yunho like he had done to Changmin earlier.
Yunho can only hope it’s good. He smiles. “Well, no sense in just waiting around doing nothing. I’m starving - you want to get some food?”
Changmin barely hesitates. “Actually, that sounds great. What’s the worst that can happen?”
The worst is that they go to an actual restaurant, just get their food, and are in the middle of a decent conversation when they hear the crackle of static overhead-
‘All passengers on Flight 2304 to Incheon International-’
“-I’m so sick of hearing that,” Changmin grumbles, making Yunho laugh around a sip of beer-
‘-the crew has arrived and prepped the plane, we are now ready to begin boarding. We’ll start with our premium member and first class passenger…’
They both stop, completely stunned. Then Changmin says, “Well, shit,” in such a way that Yunho starts laughing and doesn’t stop until his sides hurt too much for him to continue. Changmin’s giving him a glare and Yunho takes the chance and nudges his foot under the table.
“At least we’re getting out of here,” he chuckles.
Changmin nudges back, the corner of his mouth hitching ever just so. “It’s fine,” he sighs. “Let’s just ask for boxes and we can eat it on the plane.”
“Only a shame we can’t eat together,” Yunho says. He even winks, which feels just plain awkward but then again, he hasn’t flirted like this in a while. It gets the point across, and Changmin’s smile grows a little bit more.
They pay for the food and take it to the plane, just in time to catch boarding for Group 3. They’re both Group 4, and they stand around for a moment, with their food and their bags and waiting for the moment they can rush forward into the line.
It’s quiet when they actually get on the plane - it seems everyone’s too tired to create the usual bustling noise of plane-boarding. Yunho’s in seat 19D, aisle seat, and he shoves his bag into the overhead compartment and takes his seat. He says a reluctant goodbye to Changmin, who has got a seat towards the back.
It takes five minutes for the rest of the plane to board and everyone find their seats, ten minutes before the pilot announces it’ll be another ten before they’ll pull away from the gate. Yunho had wanted to wait until they got in the air before he started eating, but the smell of his dinner, right beneath his nose and a stark contrast between the odor of passengers who’re grungy and sweaty in the stifling plane - it’s too tempting not to resist.
“Smells good.”
He’s in the middle of chewing his second bite, mouth stuffed and he turns to look across the aisle. “Thwahmih?”
“I’ll assume that was my name and say, ‘hi’?” Changmin grins at him. He’s seated across from Yunho, one aisle ahead. His legs are turned into the aisle and he’s got his own dinner in one hand. “Empty seat - thought I’d join you.”
Yunho swallows around a grin of his own. “Of course. It’s delicious, by the way.” Changmin had picked Yunho’s order, when he couldn’t decide himself.
It’s not long before the stewardess comes and raps on Changmin’s knees, telling him to sit in his seat properly because they’ll be taking off soon.
“Don’t want to jinx it,” he complies, but Yunho makes it easier by leaning forward so that Changmin can turn enough to see him.
The flirting resumes. The finish eating before they are even in the air and as soon as they are they’re back to facing each other. The stewardess quickly seems to give up on telling them to turn around. Yunho is really, really enjoying himself. The more they talk the more attractive Changmin becomes - and it goes both ways, if how many times their knees bump together is any indication. At one point Yunho grabs his hand and pretends to read his palm, tracing his finger alone the ticklish spots on Changmin’s life line.
“You’re making this shit up,” he laughs.
“Yep,” Yunho admits. But he doesn’t let go.
Not until the drink cart comes by, at least, and parks right in front of them, separating them for a several minutes. He swears the stewardess is smirking at him. Instead of reacting, though, he simply looks up at her and asks innocently, “Is there any way I can get out? I need to use the restroom.”
She huffs and moves the cart forward half a foot, barely enough room and if he weren’t so skinny there was no way he’d be able to squeeze out of his seat. He heads up to the front of the plane, and when he passes Changmin he winks and it feels so much more natural this time, Changmin’s answering smirk much more welcome.
He comes back ten minutes later, more a little sheepish. “Long line,” he coughs. Changmin just arches an eyebrow at him and maybe it was too presumptuous of him, but he still feels that uncomfortable mixture of disappointment and awkwardness. He covers it with, “Miss anything while I was gone?”
“No. Except the lady in front of me is drooling on the window. It’s kind of gross.”
“Yeah…” he nods - keeps nodding, and then realizes he’s acting like he had when they were still strangers and quickly adds, “Are you gonna wake her?”
“Probably not.”
And the flight goes on. Yunho gets over his embarrassment and starts their banter again, trying to be happy that he’s flirting at all. He genuinely enjoys Changmin’s company, and by the time airplane bumps onto the runway at Incheon he feels that Christmas wasn’t such a waste, after all.
But now that they have arrived, it’s time to go their separate ways. He knows that meetings like this are usually one-time things; that a connection forged in an isolated situation can’t survive in the real world. But that doesn’t mean he can’t try.
Changmin doesn’t actually have a checked suitcase, but he still walks Yunho out of the terminal, waits with him at baggage claim. Yunho sighs in relief when he sees that his bag actually made it, and Changmin seems glad enough for him, too.
And then they’ve dragged it out as long as they can. They stand at the curb and Changmin is taking a cab, Yunho has a car.
“Well, it was really nice meeting you, Changmin. Even if the circumstances were less-than.”
“Got that right,” he says, acknowledging their first introduction. And this time his smile isn’t forced at all.
Yunho’s handshake is accepted with another firm shake. Changmin adds a quick hug disguised as a pat on the back, Yunho adds a little slip of paper transferred between their hands.
“My number.” He jokes, “call me if you ever get caught in an airport with nothing to do.”
“Can I call you for other reasons, too?”
“Any reason you want.”
“I may take you up on that.” And then Changmin winks at him, affectionately but with a definite hint of mocking.
Yunho pushes him towards a cab. “Oh, just get out of here. I’ll talk to you later.”
Changmin barely budges from the shove, but heads to a cab anyway. “See you around,” he says carelessly over his shoulder. He goes to the closest taxi and knocks on a window, opens the backdoor and gives one last wave to Yunho before swinging in.
Yunho can see his shadow through the back window, can see him settling into his seat and talking to the cabbie. Yunho can see him up until the moment the cab drives away from the curb and turns a corner onto the main street.
He sighs, and goes his own way. He’s tired and long-term parking suddenly seems a long ways away, especially with a suitcase that could be big enough for two.
Yunho finally throws open his door and flings his luggage inside, wanting nothing more to sleep. It’s four in the morning, ungodly hour that it is, and he’s so tired he almost, almost misses the blinking red light on his answer machine.
He presses ‘play’ and the message begins, the bland female voice telling him the message was left only ten minutes ago and it warms his heart because he thinks he knows just who it is-
‘Hi, Yunho… I know it’s late and we just saw each other-’
But he doesn’t get to hear anymore, because from out of the darkness of the hall behind him a hand reaches out and grabs his arm, whipping him around even as it shoves him back. A second later a body pins him tight against the wall, pressed flushed against him and Yunho doesn’t have even have time to do more than grunt in surprise.
“Took you long enough,” whispers his assailant, who’s leaning so close Yunho can feel his breath along his cheek.
He recognizes the voice instantly. “Changmin? What the hell!?”
“Game over,” Changmin says. “I’m tired of waiting.”
Yunho rolls his eyes. “You’re the one who dragged the game out.”
Changmin leans back and looks Yunho in the eye. Or at least Yunho thinks he does - his whole face is cast in shadow, the only light the soft flush of streetlights coming from the window behind him. “You’re the one who wanted to role-play in the first place,” he says dryly.
“Because-” he says forcefully, trying to push off the wall but it doesn’t work, Changmin being just that much stronger than him and the younger man actually presses harder, working one leg between his. Yunho gulps and continues, “-I thought it would be fun. That was before our flight got delayed and you disappeared for three hours.”
Changmin shrugs and Yunho feels it along the whole length of his body. “Only for realism’s sake.”
Yunho pushes again but his boyfriend doesn’t give. “But the point was pretending to meet as strangers. And then preferably fuck in the plane’s bathroom.”
Changmin ducks his head, leaning down to nip at Yunho’s neck. It gives him the shivers. “Stranger or not, did you ever think I would have sex in a place that unsanitary?”
Yunho grudgingly admits that it’s true. But a guy can dream, can’t he?
Changmin’s still working at Yunho’s neck, his mouth moving over the sensitive spots above his collarbone. Yunho arches his neck, giving him better access to the taut stretch of skin over bone, his response coming out a little breathy - “Nooo… but I expected something more than sitting by myself in that lobby for hours and waiting for you to show up.”
“Sorry.” But Yunho can tell he doesn’t mean it.
“And then when you did you were obviously playing so I thought you wanted to keep it up so I did and then still nothing happene-” he ends on a cut-off breath.
Changmin’s hands are still pinning his, his mouth kissing and sucking and his leg lifting up just so. “Did it frustrate you?” he goads.
“Yes,” Yunho grits out. “And what the hell was that with Jaejoong?”
“If our flight got in on time I was going to meet up with him.”
“What?” Yunho hisses. “And what about my parents Christmas party?”
Changmin lifts his head to place a quick kiss on Yunho’s lips. “It wouldn’t do to bring a stranger to your parents for Christmas, right?”
“You’re a little shit, you know that?” he huffs.
“And yet you love me.”
“For some inexplicable reason, it’s true,” he says despairingly, before sneaking in a quick kiss himself. “Even if you won’t have sex in semi-public with me.”
“Better than having semi-sex in public without you.”
“Stop being insufferable. Weren’t you saying something about being tired of waiting?” He wiggles his hands, wrists still pinned firmly at his sides by Changmin. “Going to finish what you started?”
“Nope. It’s fun seeing you squirm.”
“Shut up. I take it back. I don’t love you.”
“Liar. You only say that because you’re the one who’s trapped. If you’d gotten me in that bathroom, you’d be doing the same thing and you know it. You know you would,” he adds after a second, letting Yunho picture the image. He runs his thumb over Yunho’s pulse point, massaging even as he holds him tighter. They’re so close Yunho imagines he can hear their ribs knock together, can feel their hip bones clash - “You teased me the whole time we were in the airport.”
“I did not-”
“The flirting? The touching me all the time? The winking? You might have looked like an idiot but that was you totally trying to tease me and it was ridiculously cute.”
Yunho grins guiltily because he thinks that Changmin’s thing for him being cute is even cuter. “Okay, so maybe I was.”
“Got that righ-hmmf!” He’s cut off when Yunho surges forward to kiss him, a push and pull of lips that’s messy and slick and wonderful. Changmin moans and lets go of Yunho’s wrists, hands sliding along his arms so they can wrap around Yunho’s neck and draw him closer. Yunho’s fall onto Changmin’s hips and they proceed to happily suck face for the next several minutes.
Yunho pulls back, breaking the long kiss into quick, fleeting touches that he can fit words between. “Wanna-take this-to the bed-room?” he says.
Changmin nods and pushes Yunho backwards. They stumble and have to pull apart because kissing while walking never really works, and so they finish their journey with locked hands instead of lips. Yunho falls onto the bed with a sigh, feeling his exhaustion the moment his back sinks into the mattress.
And then Changmin climbs on top of him, kneeling over him. “I wouldn’t have gone to Jaejoong’s party,” he says suddenly. “But I wouldn’t have gone to your parents either.”
“We went to your parents,” Yunho pouts in return.
“And we can go to yours for New Years. What I’m saying is… I guess I’m glad the flight went the way it did - I’d rather spend Christmas with you.”
“Even as strangers?”
“Even as strangers. I would have still called you as soon as I got back to my imaginary apartment.”
Yunho sighs playfully. “Damn. I was hoping you’d say you’d have still been a stalker and followed me home.”
Changmin laughs, his head dropping to hang between them. “I think that’s a whole different sort of role-play,” he says wryly. But he smirks nonetheless, and his hands slowly inch up to reclaim Yunho’s wrists, long fingers squeezing until his bones shift together. “Think you’re up for that?”
Yunho winks.
| 05.
started writing: 12/26/09
finished writing: 1/3/10
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Yet another fic that did not come out as planned, lol! Originally it was going to be in line with the theme of serendipity-esque meetings, based off of my own personal frustrations with travelling on the holidays (and the nice surprise when you meet cute boys in the process 8D), but the end came to me rather randomly, and so I went with it and wrote the closest thing to smut i ever have LOL. Still, I think it fits the series itself, just in a different way ;)
Anyway, enough of me. Happy 2010! Hope you all had a wonderful New Years! May all your resolutions come true ♥
AND AND AND! If I may say so - GO! Vote Now! dbsk_secretgame :D
homin; pg-13
romance
3,568 words
01. | 02. | 03.
a series of unrelated one-shots for the holidays. all homin, all love ♥
‘All passengers on Flight 2304 to Incheon International, we’re still waiting for the crew to arrive, but hopefully we’ll begin boarding shortly…’
“Yeah right, like that’s gonna be our luck,” mutters a man to Yunho’s left.
Yunho nods in agreement, the sort of vague acknowledgement you give to a stranger who’s saying what everyone’s thinking. The airport lobby is packed and the young man is seated directly next to Yunho, rather than the customary one-seat gap that’s you usually see in these sort of places, but he’s leaned away like he’s trying to give Yunho some sense of personal space.
Yunho returns to his steadfast watch of the monitors. Their flight has already been delayed for five hours. They’ve changed gates three times, changed plane and crew twice. Yunho is surprised they just haven’t cancelled it already. The snow is piled near a foot high on the tarmac; there’s no way this plane is getting off the ground.
He sighs and shifts his bag in his lap. His family had warned him flying on Christmas day would be risky, but Yunho had thought that avoiding the rush of pre-holiday traffic would help him. He would fly on Christmas morning, make it home by midday and still have most of the day to celebrate.
Instead, he’s stuck in the airport in the middle of a freak snow storm that isn’t going to let up anytime soon. At least his sister will be happy - she did want snow for Christmas.
The young man sitting to his left is fiddling with his cell phone, seemingly frustrated. He’s punching numbers when the phone sings a little tune and then the screen goes black. “Shit,” the man says under his breath, the sort of vague announcement you make to justify asking to use someone else’s phone.
He looks up and his eyes meet Yunho’s, and Yunho can already see the question forming in his eyes. His own phone is in his hand and his fingers clench around it.
“Sorry, but do you think…?” He motions to Yunho’s cell and back at his own, obviously dead phone.
Yunho smiles, not above helping a person in need. “Yeah, it’s fine.” Their fingers touch when he hands over the phone.
“Thanks so much,” the guy says in a rush, pulling it back and dialing hurriedly. Yunho tries not to listen in on the conversation but he’s sitting so close and it is his phone, anyway. The man is reassuring a friend that he’s okay and he’s coming in eventually but he doesn’t know when.
“Yeah, yeah, I promise. Seriously Jaejoong, I’m all right. Talk to you later, okay?”
The man hangs up and hands it back to Yunho with a grateful, “Thanks again. Appreciate it, really.”
“Not a problem,” Yunho says honestly. He fidgets awkwardly and feels like he should say something to follow it up. “Horrible way to spend Christmas, yeah?” he says lightly, throwing the man a smile.
“No joke. I was supposed be meeting some friends hours ago… fortunately I already celebrated with family or it would be a total waste.”
“Oh? That’s good.”
“Yeah, you?”
“Missing everything. Doesn’t look I’ll be making it, either…”
“Shame - I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.”
They pause, as you do when you’ve reached the end of natural conversation, and in the interim hear another announcement.
‘All passengers on Flight 2304 to Incheon International, I’m sorry to announce the crew has been delayed in transit because of the snow. We’re trying to locate another crew and will…’
The woman on the intercom keeps talking but it’s drowned out by the sudden rise of groans and grumbling from the waiting area. People are shaking their heads and gesturing angrily but Yunho just sighs.
“What did they expect?” huffs the young man.
“No idea. The snow is what I’m worried about.”
“Exactly. No telling when it’ll let up.”
Yunho fiddles with his phone, punching random patterns in a habit he’s developed ever since he got one with a touch-screen. “I was checking the weather report earlier. Seems the wind is making it worse, but that’ll hopefully die down in an hour. If we’re lucky and they don’t cancel, we could be off in another few hours.”
Out of the corner of his eye Yunho sees him roll his eyes. “Great. That’ll only get us in at, what, midnight?”
“At the very least,” Yunho says, attempting to be placating. He understands the man’s frustrations. “I’m Yunho, by the way,” he offers, extending his hand.
The other grabs his hand, giving a firm shake that Yunho feels up to his shoulder. “Changmin.”
He smiles. “Nice to meet you, even if the circumstances are less-than.”
Changmin’s returning smile seems honest, if a little forced. “Got that right.”
Yunho looks the man over. He’s tall, folded uncomfortably into his chair, and laid-back, if the over-sized hoodie and backpack are any indication. His black beanie hides most of his hair, but a few black wisps stick out around his temple, curling around the frame of his glasses. And he’s staring straight at Yunho, evidently not shy of eye contact, and if Yunho were the sort he would be blushing.
“Are you from Seoul?” he asks.
“Yep, born and raised. My parents moved down here a couple years ago, though, so I come down to visit.”
“Ah, I’m the exact opposite. My family moved to Seoul when I was in high school… I’m usually there but I come back here every once in a while.”
“Nice.” Changmin nods, and keeps nodding for apparent lack of anything to say. It makes Yunho want to chuckle.
“I may go speak to one of the desk ladies,” he says instead. “Watch my stuff?”
“Sure.”
He comes back ten minutes later with no good news. No bad news, either, but being stuck in limbo is no better. He walks up to his section of chairs and Changmin’s slouched in his seat, eyes closed and headphones fastened over his ears. His arms are crossed like he’s trying to fall asleep but as soon as Yunho sits down he’s sitting up, pulling his headphones off.
“Anything?”
“Not a thing. They said the crew was coming in from another flight and that flight couldn’t land - it had to detour back to where it came from. So now they’re looking for another crew, but at this hour…”
“It doesn’t look good.”
Yunho shakes his head.
“Just great,” he sighs, throwing himself back into his seat. “Don’t know why I expected anything different. I hate flying anyway.”
Yunho reaches over to pat his shoulder sympathetically. “Sorry, really. I don’t like it much myself.”
Changmin’s eyes slide over to look him up and down. Yunho wonders what he’s seeing, if he’s evaluating Yunho like he had done to Changmin earlier.
Yunho can only hope it’s good. He smiles. “Well, no sense in just waiting around doing nothing. I’m starving - you want to get some food?”
Changmin barely hesitates. “Actually, that sounds great. What’s the worst that can happen?”
The worst is that they go to an actual restaurant, just get their food, and are in the middle of a decent conversation when they hear the crackle of static overhead-
‘All passengers on Flight 2304 to Incheon International-’
“-I’m so sick of hearing that,” Changmin grumbles, making Yunho laugh around a sip of beer-
‘-the crew has arrived and prepped the plane, we are now ready to begin boarding. We’ll start with our premium member and first class passenger…’
They both stop, completely stunned. Then Changmin says, “Well, shit,” in such a way that Yunho starts laughing and doesn’t stop until his sides hurt too much for him to continue. Changmin’s giving him a glare and Yunho takes the chance and nudges his foot under the table.
“At least we’re getting out of here,” he chuckles.
Changmin nudges back, the corner of his mouth hitching ever just so. “It’s fine,” he sighs. “Let’s just ask for boxes and we can eat it on the plane.”
“Only a shame we can’t eat together,” Yunho says. He even winks, which feels just plain awkward but then again, he hasn’t flirted like this in a while. It gets the point across, and Changmin’s smile grows a little bit more.
They pay for the food and take it to the plane, just in time to catch boarding for Group 3. They’re both Group 4, and they stand around for a moment, with their food and their bags and waiting for the moment they can rush forward into the line.
It’s quiet when they actually get on the plane - it seems everyone’s too tired to create the usual bustling noise of plane-boarding. Yunho’s in seat 19D, aisle seat, and he shoves his bag into the overhead compartment and takes his seat. He says a reluctant goodbye to Changmin, who has got a seat towards the back.
It takes five minutes for the rest of the plane to board and everyone find their seats, ten minutes before the pilot announces it’ll be another ten before they’ll pull away from the gate. Yunho had wanted to wait until they got in the air before he started eating, but the smell of his dinner, right beneath his nose and a stark contrast between the odor of passengers who’re grungy and sweaty in the stifling plane - it’s too tempting not to resist.
“Smells good.”
He’s in the middle of chewing his second bite, mouth stuffed and he turns to look across the aisle. “Thwahmih?”
“I’ll assume that was my name and say, ‘hi’?” Changmin grins at him. He’s seated across from Yunho, one aisle ahead. His legs are turned into the aisle and he’s got his own dinner in one hand. “Empty seat - thought I’d join you.”
Yunho swallows around a grin of his own. “Of course. It’s delicious, by the way.” Changmin had picked Yunho’s order, when he couldn’t decide himself.
It’s not long before the stewardess comes and raps on Changmin’s knees, telling him to sit in his seat properly because they’ll be taking off soon.
“Don’t want to jinx it,” he complies, but Yunho makes it easier by leaning forward so that Changmin can turn enough to see him.
The flirting resumes. The finish eating before they are even in the air and as soon as they are they’re back to facing each other. The stewardess quickly seems to give up on telling them to turn around. Yunho is really, really enjoying himself. The more they talk the more attractive Changmin becomes - and it goes both ways, if how many times their knees bump together is any indication. At one point Yunho grabs his hand and pretends to read his palm, tracing his finger alone the ticklish spots on Changmin’s life line.
“You’re making this shit up,” he laughs.
“Yep,” Yunho admits. But he doesn’t let go.
Not until the drink cart comes by, at least, and parks right in front of them, separating them for a several minutes. He swears the stewardess is smirking at him. Instead of reacting, though, he simply looks up at her and asks innocently, “Is there any way I can get out? I need to use the restroom.”
She huffs and moves the cart forward half a foot, barely enough room and if he weren’t so skinny there was no way he’d be able to squeeze out of his seat. He heads up to the front of the plane, and when he passes Changmin he winks and it feels so much more natural this time, Changmin’s answering smirk much more welcome.
He comes back ten minutes later, more a little sheepish. “Long line,” he coughs. Changmin just arches an eyebrow at him and maybe it was too presumptuous of him, but he still feels that uncomfortable mixture of disappointment and awkwardness. He covers it with, “Miss anything while I was gone?”
“No. Except the lady in front of me is drooling on the window. It’s kind of gross.”
“Yeah…” he nods - keeps nodding, and then realizes he’s acting like he had when they were still strangers and quickly adds, “Are you gonna wake her?”
“Probably not.”
And the flight goes on. Yunho gets over his embarrassment and starts their banter again, trying to be happy that he’s flirting at all. He genuinely enjoys Changmin’s company, and by the time airplane bumps onto the runway at Incheon he feels that Christmas wasn’t such a waste, after all.
But now that they have arrived, it’s time to go their separate ways. He knows that meetings like this are usually one-time things; that a connection forged in an isolated situation can’t survive in the real world. But that doesn’t mean he can’t try.
Changmin doesn’t actually have a checked suitcase, but he still walks Yunho out of the terminal, waits with him at baggage claim. Yunho sighs in relief when he sees that his bag actually made it, and Changmin seems glad enough for him, too.
And then they’ve dragged it out as long as they can. They stand at the curb and Changmin is taking a cab, Yunho has a car.
“Well, it was really nice meeting you, Changmin. Even if the circumstances were less-than.”
“Got that right,” he says, acknowledging their first introduction. And this time his smile isn’t forced at all.
Yunho’s handshake is accepted with another firm shake. Changmin adds a quick hug disguised as a pat on the back, Yunho adds a little slip of paper transferred between their hands.
“My number.” He jokes, “call me if you ever get caught in an airport with nothing to do.”
“Can I call you for other reasons, too?”
“Any reason you want.”
“I may take you up on that.” And then Changmin winks at him, affectionately but with a definite hint of mocking.
Yunho pushes him towards a cab. “Oh, just get out of here. I’ll talk to you later.”
Changmin barely budges from the shove, but heads to a cab anyway. “See you around,” he says carelessly over his shoulder. He goes to the closest taxi and knocks on a window, opens the backdoor and gives one last wave to Yunho before swinging in.
Yunho can see his shadow through the back window, can see him settling into his seat and talking to the cabbie. Yunho can see him up until the moment the cab drives away from the curb and turns a corner onto the main street.
He sighs, and goes his own way. He’s tired and long-term parking suddenly seems a long ways away, especially with a suitcase that could be big enough for two.
Yunho finally throws open his door and flings his luggage inside, wanting nothing more to sleep. It’s four in the morning, ungodly hour that it is, and he’s so tired he almost, almost misses the blinking red light on his answer machine.
He presses ‘play’ and the message begins, the bland female voice telling him the message was left only ten minutes ago and it warms his heart because he thinks he knows just who it is-
‘Hi, Yunho… I know it’s late and we just saw each other-’
But he doesn’t get to hear anymore, because from out of the darkness of the hall behind him a hand reaches out and grabs his arm, whipping him around even as it shoves him back. A second later a body pins him tight against the wall, pressed flushed against him and Yunho doesn’t have even have time to do more than grunt in surprise.
“Took you long enough,” whispers his assailant, who’s leaning so close Yunho can feel his breath along his cheek.
He recognizes the voice instantly. “Changmin? What the hell!?”
“Game over,” Changmin says. “I’m tired of waiting.”
Yunho rolls his eyes. “You’re the one who dragged the game out.”
Changmin leans back and looks Yunho in the eye. Or at least Yunho thinks he does - his whole face is cast in shadow, the only light the soft flush of streetlights coming from the window behind him. “You’re the one who wanted to role-play in the first place,” he says dryly.
“Because-” he says forcefully, trying to push off the wall but it doesn’t work, Changmin being just that much stronger than him and the younger man actually presses harder, working one leg between his. Yunho gulps and continues, “-I thought it would be fun. That was before our flight got delayed and you disappeared for three hours.”
Changmin shrugs and Yunho feels it along the whole length of his body. “Only for realism’s sake.”
Yunho pushes again but his boyfriend doesn’t give. “But the point was pretending to meet as strangers. And then preferably fuck in the plane’s bathroom.”
Changmin ducks his head, leaning down to nip at Yunho’s neck. It gives him the shivers. “Stranger or not, did you ever think I would have sex in a place that unsanitary?”
Yunho grudgingly admits that it’s true. But a guy can dream, can’t he?
Changmin’s still working at Yunho’s neck, his mouth moving over the sensitive spots above his collarbone. Yunho arches his neck, giving him better access to the taut stretch of skin over bone, his response coming out a little breathy - “Nooo… but I expected something more than sitting by myself in that lobby for hours and waiting for you to show up.”
“Sorry.” But Yunho can tell he doesn’t mean it.
“And then when you did you were obviously playing so I thought you wanted to keep it up so I did and then still nothing happene-” he ends on a cut-off breath.
Changmin’s hands are still pinning his, his mouth kissing and sucking and his leg lifting up just so. “Did it frustrate you?” he goads.
“Yes,” Yunho grits out. “And what the hell was that with Jaejoong?”
“If our flight got in on time I was going to meet up with him.”
“What?” Yunho hisses. “And what about my parents Christmas party?”
Changmin lifts his head to place a quick kiss on Yunho’s lips. “It wouldn’t do to bring a stranger to your parents for Christmas, right?”
“You’re a little shit, you know that?” he huffs.
“And yet you love me.”
“For some inexplicable reason, it’s true,” he says despairingly, before sneaking in a quick kiss himself. “Even if you won’t have sex in semi-public with me.”
“Better than having semi-sex in public without you.”
“Stop being insufferable. Weren’t you saying something about being tired of waiting?” He wiggles his hands, wrists still pinned firmly at his sides by Changmin. “Going to finish what you started?”
“Nope. It’s fun seeing you squirm.”
“Shut up. I take it back. I don’t love you.”
“Liar. You only say that because you’re the one who’s trapped. If you’d gotten me in that bathroom, you’d be doing the same thing and you know it. You know you would,” he adds after a second, letting Yunho picture the image. He runs his thumb over Yunho’s pulse point, massaging even as he holds him tighter. They’re so close Yunho imagines he can hear their ribs knock together, can feel their hip bones clash - “You teased me the whole time we were in the airport.”
“I did not-”
“The flirting? The touching me all the time? The winking? You might have looked like an idiot but that was you totally trying to tease me and it was ridiculously cute.”
Yunho grins guiltily because he thinks that Changmin’s thing for him being cute is even cuter. “Okay, so maybe I was.”
“Got that righ-hmmf!” He’s cut off when Yunho surges forward to kiss him, a push and pull of lips that’s messy and slick and wonderful. Changmin moans and lets go of Yunho’s wrists, hands sliding along his arms so they can wrap around Yunho’s neck and draw him closer. Yunho’s fall onto Changmin’s hips and they proceed to happily suck face for the next several minutes.
Yunho pulls back, breaking the long kiss into quick, fleeting touches that he can fit words between. “Wanna-take this-to the bed-room?” he says.
Changmin nods and pushes Yunho backwards. They stumble and have to pull apart because kissing while walking never really works, and so they finish their journey with locked hands instead of lips. Yunho falls onto the bed with a sigh, feeling his exhaustion the moment his back sinks into the mattress.
And then Changmin climbs on top of him, kneeling over him. “I wouldn’t have gone to Jaejoong’s party,” he says suddenly. “But I wouldn’t have gone to your parents either.”
“We went to your parents,” Yunho pouts in return.
“And we can go to yours for New Years. What I’m saying is… I guess I’m glad the flight went the way it did - I’d rather spend Christmas with you.”
“Even as strangers?”
“Even as strangers. I would have still called you as soon as I got back to my imaginary apartment.”
Yunho sighs playfully. “Damn. I was hoping you’d say you’d have still been a stalker and followed me home.”
Changmin laughs, his head dropping to hang between them. “I think that’s a whole different sort of role-play,” he says wryly. But he smirks nonetheless, and his hands slowly inch up to reclaim Yunho’s wrists, long fingers squeezing until his bones shift together. “Think you’re up for that?”
Yunho winks.
| 05.
started writing: 12/26/09
finished writing: 1/3/10
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Yet another fic that did not come out as planned, lol! Originally it was going to be in line with the theme of serendipity-esque meetings, based off of my own personal frustrations with travelling on the holidays (and the nice surprise when you meet cute boys in the process 8D), but the end came to me rather randomly, and so I went with it and wrote the closest thing to smut i ever have LOL. Still, I think it fits the series itself, just in a different way ;)
Anyway, enough of me. Happy 2010! Hope you all had a wonderful New Years! May all your resolutions come true ♥
AND AND AND! If I may say so - GO! Vote Now! dbsk_secretgame :D