[PG-13] Up in the Air [2/2]
Title: Up in the Air
Character(s): QMi, Some TeukChul, ninja!KyuHyuk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Life, Romance
Type: One-shot
Summary: AU. Where everyone is a flight attendant and the same age.
Part 1
Kyuhyun and Sungmin are discussing something with Heechul and Jungsoo in the corporate office in Korea when Zhou Mi comes bounding into the room like a little kid.
“Guess what?” Zhou Mi asks.
“Disney on Ice is coming a couple of months earlier?” Heechul humors him.
“Are they really?” Zhou Mi responds distractedly.
Sungmin chuckles. “What is it that you wanted to tell us, Mi?”
“I’ve been assigned on the flight to China!” Zhou Mi shares with them then goes on to tell them how long it’s been since he’s last seen his family and that this is an opportunity for him to see them again.
“That’s really nice, Mi,” Jungsoo affectionately tells him. Heechul slings an arm around his neck in an effort to comfort him.
Being flight attendants means less time for other people, like family, friends, boyfriends or girlfriends. It means moving from place to place, seeing the world but never really seeing because they never stayed.
It is a lonely life. But they all have each other to cope with it.
“Aren’t you excited, Kui Xian?” Zhou Mi then asks.
The three other boys’ eyes widen in surprise at the name he used. But when Kyuhyun continues to ignore him, Heechul shoves an elbow onto Kyuhyun’s stomach. The younger male is staring out of the window, apparently not listening to anything Zhou Mi is saying.
“What?” Kyuhyun growls, rubbing his tummy to ease the pain.
“Zhou Mi was saying something to you,” Sungmin shares to him.
Kyuhyun looks up at Zhou Mi and is almost blinded by his pearly white teeth.
“Aren’t you excited to go to China?” Zhou Mi repeats the question in a clearer way.
“I’m not going to China,” Kyuhyun tells him in a rather offended manner. The other boys exchange worried looks.
“Oh but you are,” Zhou Mi says knowingly. “Jessica sunbae just said that you were and so I get to go with you. I am your mentee after all.” He smiles. “It’s going to be so much fun! I get to introduce you to my family and all.”
Kyuhyun stands up without a word and moves to leave the room so he could talk to Jessica about the said flight. He always makes sure that he never gets assigned to China. Ever. But Zhou Mi stops him with a hand on his arm and a frown on his face just as he had walked out of the room.
“Please don’t change the flight,” Zhou Mi quietly and politely insists. “I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to go again.”
“I’m not going to change your flight,” Kyuhyun appeases him. “Just mine.” He starts to walk again but he is stopped once more.
“I already asked,” Zhou Mi relays. “If you change your flight, they change mine, too.” He pauses when Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything. “I know what China means to you, what it reminds you of and I’m sorry for that but please, please don’t ask to change the flight.”
Kyuhyun stills and suddenly feels bad for how rashly he has acted. He looks at Zhou Mi for the first time and sees how much this China trip means to him, how badly he wants to go. He sighs and groans inwardly.
“Fine,” Kyuhyun snaps.
“Really?” Zhou Mi says in surprise, his face suddenly blossoming just like flowers in the springtime.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Kyuhyun retorts.
Zhou Mi launches himself onto him and wraps his arms around him in a hug. Kyuhyun freezes, unsure of what to do or how to feel.
He is in the middle of thinking of his options when Zhou Mi untangles himself from him.
“Thank you so much, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi happily breathes.
Kyuhyun’s mind is jilted as he forgets the relief that he feels when Zhou Mi finally released him from the hug.
“What did you call me?” he demands.
“Er, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi repeats hesitatingly.
“What is Kui Xian?” Kyuhyun brokenly questions.
“Well you wouldn’t let me call you sunbae so I just thought that I’d call you with something else,” Zhou Mi explains in a rather fast way. “It’s your name in Chinese.”
“You’ve never called me that before,” Kyuhyun says, trying to recall when he’s ever heard him call him that before.
“I have,” Zhou Mi gently corrects him.
“You have not,” Kyuhyun insists. He believes he would know if he has because he would have reacted the same way he is acting now.
“I have,” Zhou Mi maintains. He looks down and fidgets with his hands. “You just never seem to hear.” He diverts the subject. “Anyway, I didn’t know what to call you that wouldn’t seem disrespectful so I just decided to call you something no one’s called you before.”
“There’s a reason why I don’t let you call me sunbae,” Kyuhyun finally answers.
Zhou Mi looks surprised for a second. “I know,” he replies.
“There are just some things I don’t want to relive,” Kyuhyun goes on, sighing as he stares at his shoes.
There’s a silence between them, a silence that would usually make Kyuhyun feel uncomfortable. But, strangely enough, he doesn’t find this silence disconcerting.
Zhou Mi is all sparkles, all shiny and bright and happy. Kyuhyun is all apathy and ennui, all gloomy and dark and sad. But somewhere along the way they-or Kyuhyun-found that they could actually get along, and maybe even become friends.
“I’ll go and tell Jessica sunbae to change our flights,” Zhou Mi speaks up. “Maybe we can go to South Africa instead. I hear it’s lovely there this time of the year.”
“Don’t be stupid. It’s perfect in China this time of the year,” Kyuhyun retorts and walks back to the room.
Zhou Mi smiles.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun is standing outside of Zhou Mi’s house in China.
He looks at the simple white house, ogles at the antique main door, and stares at the pretty flowers decorating the front lawn. But, most of all, he watches as Zhou Mi is practically smothered with hugs by his mom and dad.
This takes a while as his mom keeps on fussing over him, checking his hair, his face, his arms, every inch of his body to make sure he’s fine, while his dad keeps on patting his shoulder and pulls him back into a hug every second.
When Zhou Mi finally gets to untangle himself from his parents, he pulls Kyuhyun and introduces them to him. Kyuhyun smiles and bows and talks a bit about himself, although there isn’t much to tell. His parents are all smiley and he could just see why Zhou Mi is exactly the way he is. And he isn’t talking just about smiles.
“So… this is my home,” Zhou Mi announces once they had been fed and had settled down.
“You also believe that no place in the world is the same, don’t you?” Kyuhyun questions rather abrasively, randomly thinking back to his conversation with Sungmin about Disneyland.
Zhou Mi just looks at him for a while as if deep in thought. Then he smiles. “Well, this is my home, Kui Xian,” he responds. “For me, there is no place like home. There isn’t any place in the world that can substitute this.”
“Figures,” Kyuhyun mutters.
The taller male studies him for a second then bravely asks, “Where is home for you, Kui Xian?”
“I don’t have a home,” is Kyuhyun’s flat reply.
~ * ~
Zhou Mi brings Kyuhyun everywhere in China, no matter how hard he protested that it isn’t the first time he’s been there. It’s the exact reason why Zhou Mi wants to take him to all places because he hasn’t been there in so long.
Zhou Mi buys him all such trinkets that Kyuhyun thinks he will just eventually throw away. He barely keeps anything from his travels. He isn’t one for keeping things for memories or remembrances. He has stopped being sentimental a long time ago.
It takes Zhou Mi a whole day to shop for what Kyuhyun thinks are all unnecessary things and finally unwind in a small, outdoor restaurant.
“I like your coat,” Zhou Mi says just to break the silence. He smiles widely.
“You picked this out,” Kyuhyun replies, rolling his eyes.
“I know,” Zhou Mi proudly states. “I have good taste.”
“Congratulations,” Kyuhyun scoffs, poking his chopsticks into his bowl.
They eat in silence for a while, each absorbed in their own thoughts; Zhou Mi’s filled with thoughts of China and home, Kyuhyun’s filled with China and how he would like to leave.
The sound of a plane jerks them out of their thoughts. Kyuhyun looks up and watches the plane fly by. Zhou Mi watches Kyuhyun instead.
“You know, there was a time when I believed in things like home,” Kyuhyun surprisingly opens up. Zhou Mi is surprised but doesn’t say anything, afraid that he would say something that would make him stop. “That isn’t the case anymore. It hasn’t been for a while.”
“What-why?” Zhou Mi stammers.
“Things change,” Kyuhyun replies with a shrug, turning back to his food.
“Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi begins but stops as Kyuhyun chuckles.
“You know it’s funny that I let you call me Kui Xian when I don’t let you call me sunbae,” Kyuhyun shares, meeting his eyes. “It’s a bit hypocritical of me.”
“What are you talking about?” Zhou Mi asks curiously.
“Hyukjae used to call me Kui Xian,” Kyuhyun answers, taking a sip of his drink. “Just like he used to call me sunbae.”
It is said so abruptly that Zhou Mi gasps and freezes. But once he realizes that Kyuhyun meant to say his name, meant to talk about him to him, meant to open up to him, he is beyond shocked.
“I applied to be a flight attendant because I wanted to see the world,” Kyuhyun continues to share, “because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to. It was the only way. But I used to be scared shit of flying. How could it be the safest form of travel when you’re thousands of feet off the ground?” He snickers.
“But it is the safest form of travel,” Zhou Mi is unable to control confirming.
“I know,” Kyuhyun pointedly tells him. He sighs. “I know.”
Zhou Mi has always thought that Kyuhyun was rather beautiful. His face and features were like those of Greek gods, almost round eyes, perfectly sculpted nose, stunning lips. His hair looks like it didn’t need to be styled because it styled its own. He was tall and lithe. But he thinks that Kyuhyun is most beautiful when he is open and unguarded, like how is being at the moment.
“We were here, in China. I was leaving that morning for Florence, while he was staying for another day to wait for his flight to Canada,” Kyuhyun goes on, somehow unable to stop himself from saying things. He half smiles and half smirks. “We had this thing where we’re always supposed to see each other off when we have separate flights after being in one together. Dumbass had to go off somewhere before going to the airport. He was late and was rushing.”
Kyuhyun lets out a breath and looks up at the night sky.
Zhou Mi remembers the news article. He remembers because it was around that time, three years ago, that he first decided to apply to become a flight attendant for Korean Air. He made sure that he learned everything by heart, including all the names of the flight attendants in the roster because he wanted to be able to know which people would be good to work with and be assigned with. Lee Hyukjae was one of the top-ranking flight attendants in the company. Because Cho Kyuhyun was his mentor.
Lee Hyukjae died in a car accident.
Found in the wreckage was a black velvet box. It seemed he had meant to propose to Kyuhyun that morning.
Zhou Mi reaches for Kyuhyun’s hand across the table without thinking. “I’m sorry.”
Kyuhyun stares at his hand in Zhou Mi’s.
The Layover
Kyuhyun never thought it is possible for him and Zhou Mi to be more attached than they already were. Always doing things together, Kyuhyun isn’t bothered at all. He is starting to think that maybe having Zhou Mi around is a good thing.
Zhou Mi keeps him company and keeps him entertained. He decides that those were the only two things why he likes having him around. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Yeah right,” Heechul taunts. “Just friends my ass.”
“Heechul,” Jungsoo chides. “There are different names to relationships, you know. If Kyuhyun calls the love between him and Zhou Mi as being just friends then so be it.”
“WE. ARE. NOT. IN. LOVE.,” Kyuhyun fumes. He looks like he wanted to strangle the two males, but decides against it because he knows that Heechul would murder him. “We really are just friends. It’s not code for anything.”
“Since when are you so touchy about this?” Heechul responds as if Kyuhyun wasn’t bursting in annoyance. “Actually, since when are you so touchy about anything? What happened to being non-committal and bored about everything?”
“I am not touchy,” Kyuhyun huffs.
“Look, Kyu, I don’t know why you’re so afraid to admit that you guys have feelings for each other,” Jungsoo comments. “It’s not like people around you are blind.”
“How many times do I have to say this?” Kyuhyun groans. “We really are just friends. Just because you two randomly decided to get married in Argentina, without inviting us by the way, doesn’t mean that everyone around you is in love.”
“Fine then,” Sungmin says, speaking for the first time, before the couple could react. “But he’s certainly in love with you. It’s impossible that you don’t see that.”
Kyuhyun agrees with him. With how Zhou Mi shows his affection in every way, how could he miss it? Zhou Mi holds his hand, puts his arm around his waist and kisses him on the cheek. Zhou Mi cooks for him, helps pack his things, and wakes him up in time for his flights. Zhou Mi always checks on him, brings him back to the hotel room when he’s too drunk to do so himself and takes care of him.
It is exactly like how Hyukjae treated him. And he knew that Hyukjae loved him.
Kyuhyun decides right then and there that maybe it’s not such a good idea for them to be so close to each other all the time. He determines that it’s probably time for Zhou Mi to be promoted so that he wouldn’t have to be his mentee anymore.
~ * ~
“How could you do this without telling me?” Zhou Mi’s hurt and angry voice echoes in the room right after the door slams shut.
Kyuhyun closes his eyes for a second then opens them. He turns around the face the Chinese man.
“Relax, Mi,” Kyuhyun says, smiling a little. “It’s just a change of flight.”
“It’s not just a change of flight,” Zhou Mi counters, frowning. “You asked to stop being my mentor.”
“Which means that you’re okay to stand on your own two feet,” Kyuhyun elaborates. “You’ve been promoted.”
“How can you not tell me?” Zhou Mi asks again. “You know how much this means to me. You know how much I treasure our trips together.”
“Stop being so melodramatic,” Kyuhyun replies, chuckling forcefully. “They’re just trips. You still get to do them, just with other people. You don’t need me.”
Zhou Mi becomes quiet for a long time that Kyuhyun is forced to look up. He immediately regrets doing so because tears are brimming in Zhou Mi’s eyes, something that he recognizes he never wants to see.
“I don’t need you?” Zhou Mi echoes, a mocking note in his voice. “I’m not the one who keeps pushing people away. I’m not the one who’s pushing you away.” He pauses for a second, waiting for him to say something.
Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know how to voice out what he is feeling.
“You’re the one who is pushing me away, Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi clears up. “You’re the one who doesn’t need me.”
Kyuhyun stands in the middle of the empty room for quite some time long after Zhou Mi left.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun flies to Italy right after that, a special request from him to Jessica.
He walks down the streets of Florence, hands in his pockets. He thinks about how beautiful everything is and how he never gets tired of flying there. Sometimes he thinks that if anyone asks him where home is, he could probably say Florence.
But then home makes him think of that one night in China where he had that conversation with Zhou Mi about home.
It makes him realize that Florence isn’t home. Florence is just another one of those places that seem significant in his life, but isn’t really. Florence is just the place he runs to when things happen. Just like Hyukjae’s death. Just like Zhou Mi leaving him.
He begins to wonder what it would be like if he didn’t ask to stop mentoring Zhou Mi. They would probably be walking the streets of Florence together. Zhou Mi would probably stop at every shop, buying his souvenirs, taking pictures of everything and nagging at him to try on the clothes.
He shakes those thoughts away. They have parted ways. There is no need to think about what might have beens or what could have beens. Things are over between them, if there was even anything between them.
He turns a corners and stops when he feels his phone vibrate. Taking it out, he sees an unknown number and knows at once that it was Heechul calling.
“What to you want?” he answers.
Almost immediately, color is drained from his face.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun is in the hospital, along with Heechul, Jungsoo and Sungmin. Kyuhyun is sitting down, while Heechul keeps on pacing around with Jungsoo following him. Sungmin just looks at the three of them.
Zhou Mi is in the hospital because he is stupid, Kyuhyun thinks. Zhou Mi is stupid because he drank half a bottle of soju then got into a car to drive. Zhou Mi is stupid because he knows how much he hates car accidents and yet he got himself into one.
“You’re the one who’s being stupid,” Heechul pronounces. “Stop whining.”
“Heechul,” Jungsoo scolds him.
“What?” Heechul retorts. “It’s true. He’s the one who started all of this. He is the one who is stupid.”
Jungsoo pulls Heechul away before he could say anything more hurtful to Kyuhyun. Sungmin, who is just standing there, watching Kyuhyun sink deeper into despair, finally sits down beside him.
“You know better than to listen to Heechul when he’s under stress,” Sungmin gently reminds him as he put an arm around his shoulder. “He doesn’t mean it. It’s not true. You’re not stupid.”
“Aren’t I?” Kyuhyun inquires uncertainly. “I think Heechul’s right. If it weren’t for me-.”
“Don’t you dare do this again,” Sungmin sharply interrupts. Kyuhyun stares at him in surprise. “You are not responsible for every car accident that happens in the world, Kyuhyun. It’s not your fault that Hyukjae died in one and it’s not your fault that Zhou Mi got into one.”
“I wouldn’t call it their fault either,” Kyuhyun mutters. “There’s a reason behind every action.”
“And that isn’t you,” Sungmin declares boldly. “Their reasons may involve you, but it’s their own reasons, their own choices and not because you willed it. It’s not your fault.”
Kyuhyun is quiet for a while.
“Where is home for you, Sungmin?” Kyuhyun then asks.
Sungmin looks confused but answers nevertheless. “Home for me is Ilsan.”
“Why is Ilsan your home?” Kyuhyun presses.
“Because I grew up there, my family is there, I have friends there,” Sungmin explains, not entirely sure what Kyuhyun is on about. “Being in Ilsan makes me feel at peace. It reminds me of my dreams and things I want to achieve. It makes me happy.” He observes as Kyuhyun ponders his words. “Why do you ask?”
“There is no place that makes me feel that way,” Kyuhyun informs him, meeting his eyes. “Traveling has made me numb to places to call home. I have no home.”
Sungmin just looks at him for a while. Then he smiles.
“You do have a home, Kyuhyun,” Sungmin tells him. “You just have to stop being afraid to see it.”
Check-out
“Are you sure you can walk? I can call the nurse and ask her to bring in a wheelchair. You don’t have to walk if it’s hard for you.”
“I can walk,” Zhou Mi calmly confirms, holding onto his hand.
Kyuhyun nods and helps him out of the room, Zhou Mi’s bags on his shoulders. As they walk out of the room, they’re met with Heechul and Sungmin.
“Let me help you,” Heechul offers.
“No, I’m fine with helping him,” Kyuhyun rebukes him.
Zhou Mi stops walking and slowly turns to Kyuhyun. “Heechul will help me,” he finalizes. “You should go home and get some rest.”
Heechul smirks as Zhou Mi reaches for his hand instead. Sungmin shoots Kyuhyun an apologetic glance before hurrying after the two down the hallway.
Kyuhyun stays behind.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun settles himself onto one of the seats on the hotel bar. He orders five shots of some alcoholic drink from the bartender and downs them both immediately to numb himself. He tries to allow himself to enjoy the lonely jazz music that is being played by the band.
This is the reason why he wants to leave already, why he doesn’t like staying in one place too long. He doesn’t like the quiet. He doesn’t like putting his own mind in the spotlight since he isn’t preoccupied with anything else. He hates thinking. Because it is in thinking that he remembers things that he would rather forget.
He lets out a breath, orders another shot and downs it at once. The numb is starting to settle in and he immediately feels so much better.
It’s the flash of red that enters the bar that catches his eye. He blinks and thinks he imagined it, attributing it to the alcohol that has entered his system.
But, apparently, it wasn’t the alcohol and he wasn’t imagining things.
“Is this seat taken?”
Kyuhyun gapes, unable to say anything or even form a coherent sentence in his brain. When he continues to stare, Zhou Mi decides to just take the empty seat. He calls the bartender and orders a Strawberry Daiquiri.
“What is it with you and female drinks?” Kyuhyun blurts out.
“It’s apparently a convenient conversation starter for you,” Zhou Mi replies, a small smile on his face.
“What are you doing here?” Kyuhyun asks him.
“What are you doing here?” Zhou Mi shoots back.
“What do you mean?” Kyuhyun wants to know, clearly confused.
“When I told you to go home, I didn’t mean that you disappear from me,” Zhou Mi explains, sighing in frustration.
“Oh, didn’t you?” Kyuhyun snaps, the confusion gone from his system. He grabs another shot and finishes it in a gulp. “Because, in case you’ve forgotten, I don’t have a house and I don’t like resting.”
“I only realized that after I had left,” Zhou Mi responds. “I didn’t intend for it to mean the way it sounded.”
Kyuhyun merely shrugs and stares at the jazz band.
“Why did you cancel your trips to come to the hospital?” Zhou Mi then asks him.
“Because Heechul sounded hysterical and seemed like he needed someone to calm him down,” Kyuhyun answers smoothly, not bothering to look at him.
“Jungsoo was there,” Zhou Mi reminds him.
“Yeah well, Heechul always needs more than one person to calm him down,” Kyuhyun elaborates.
“I missed you,” Zhou Mi finally declares. It is a quiet but very open affirmation of feelings, one that they had never talked of before.
“Is that why you keep drinking and driving, being a hazard to the community?” is Kyuhyun’s hurtful reply.
Zhou Mi is quiet for a second. Kyuhyun is angry with himself for his biting remarks, but is unable to do anything about it. What he knows is that he isn’t willing to go down that road for someone who is so eager to leave him.
“I see things haven’t changed since,” Zhou Mi finally starts again. “You still don’t need me, don’t want me.”
“Why are you always being so melodramatic?” Kyuhyun snaps, finally facing him.
“Why do you keep getting angry at everything?” Zhou Mi replies angrily.
“Because I am angry at everything,” Kyuhyun interrupts before he could continue any further. “I am angry because you don’t understand anything. You don’t understand how hard all of this is for me. You don’t understand how hard it is for me to let anyone in. My parents died and I had no one. And when I finally found someone, someone I thought worth sharing my life with, he died, too. I had no one again. It’s not easy for me.”
“I know that!” Zhou Mi insists heatedly. “I know that! I tried so hard to make you happy, to do everything your way, to slow things down so as not to scare you because I know it isn’t easy for you. I tried my best. I stayed by your side even when you didn’t want me to because I knew you still wanted me to and you weren’t just saying anything. I know.”
“If you know then why would you stupidly drink and drive?” Kyuhyun yells.
The jazz band stops playing for a second, startled, but the bartender urges them to continue playing.
“Let me refresh your memory, both my parents and Hyukjae died in car accidents,” Kyuhyun continues, almost growling.
“I’m sorry about that, I really am,” Zhou Mi yells back. “But I don’t understand why you’re so angry at me because of that.”
“I’m angry because you, unlike them, put yourself in danger by yourself. You know very well that you’re inhibitions are low and that people become stupid when they drink!” Kyuhyun explain in deep frustration. “They got into accidents and died because of forces outside of their control. But you, you got yourself into an accident because you decided that you would be brilliant and drink before driving.”
“What is it that you want to say?” Zhou Mi shouts. “Just tell me already so we can get this over with!”
“YOU ALMOST TOOK MY HOME FROM ME!!!” Kyuhyun finishes in anguish. Tears start streaming down Kyuhyun’s face and Zhou Mi is stunned. “You don’t know, Mi. You almost got yourself killed. You almost took someone I think is worth sharing my life with, someone I need and want away from me again.”
Zhou Mi stands up as Kyuhyun kneels in front of him, hugging his waist, sobbing on his shirt.
“Oh Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi softly calls, his heart breaking at the sound of his pain and fear.
“You’re my home, Mi,” Kyuhyun sobs. “I don’t have anything or anyone else. I just have you.”
Zhou Mi crouches down and lifts Kyuhyun’s face so he could wipe his tears away and clearly see his eyes.
“And you’ll always have me,” Zhou Mi assures him.
~ * ~
The airplane in his hand flies high, up in the sky. It flits in between clouds, dashes through the wind and goes past states, countries and continents. It is able to go the distance, able to save people from scary monsters and scary places. It is able to make people see other worlds and experience new things.
“Still playing with that, I see.”
Kyuhyun looks up and smiles, placing the toy airplane on the shelf. “Not really,” he says. “Just letting go.”
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Zhou Mi prompts him. “There really is no reason for you to-.”
“I want to,” Kyuhyun finalizes. “If Jungsoo and Heechul could do it, so can I.” He faces him. “So can we.”
A couple of years into being a flight attendant, Zhou Mi retired, following after Jungsoo and Heechul. The decision came from wanting to be more stable, more in one place, more at home somewhere in the world, a place he can call his own home, one that he could share with Kyuhyun in the future.
Kyuhyun continued being a top flight attendant. It took him two more years before he decided that he would stop being afraid and finally settle down with Zhou Mi, in one place, permanently.
“My Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi endearingly avows. “It’s nice to be home, isn’t it?”
Kyuhyun smiles. “It’s nice to be with you.”
Kyuhyun takes Zhou Mi’s hand in his and kisses it.
Flying is fun, but home is good, too.
===
With this, I would like to thank veezhi for the hand-holding through all of this. She listened to all my whining and stress and put up with all of it. Thank you! :)
Character(s): QMi, Some TeukChul, ninja!KyuHyuk
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Life, Romance
Type: One-shot
Summary: AU. Where everyone is a flight attendant and the same age.
Part 1
Kyuhyun and Sungmin are discussing something with Heechul and Jungsoo in the corporate office in Korea when Zhou Mi comes bounding into the room like a little kid.
“Guess what?” Zhou Mi asks.
“Disney on Ice is coming a couple of months earlier?” Heechul humors him.
“Are they really?” Zhou Mi responds distractedly.
Sungmin chuckles. “What is it that you wanted to tell us, Mi?”
“I’ve been assigned on the flight to China!” Zhou Mi shares with them then goes on to tell them how long it’s been since he’s last seen his family and that this is an opportunity for him to see them again.
“That’s really nice, Mi,” Jungsoo affectionately tells him. Heechul slings an arm around his neck in an effort to comfort him.
Being flight attendants means less time for other people, like family, friends, boyfriends or girlfriends. It means moving from place to place, seeing the world but never really seeing because they never stayed.
It is a lonely life. But they all have each other to cope with it.
“Aren’t you excited, Kui Xian?” Zhou Mi then asks.
The three other boys’ eyes widen in surprise at the name he used. But when Kyuhyun continues to ignore him, Heechul shoves an elbow onto Kyuhyun’s stomach. The younger male is staring out of the window, apparently not listening to anything Zhou Mi is saying.
“What?” Kyuhyun growls, rubbing his tummy to ease the pain.
“Zhou Mi was saying something to you,” Sungmin shares to him.
Kyuhyun looks up at Zhou Mi and is almost blinded by his pearly white teeth.
“Aren’t you excited to go to China?” Zhou Mi repeats the question in a clearer way.
“I’m not going to China,” Kyuhyun tells him in a rather offended manner. The other boys exchange worried looks.
“Oh but you are,” Zhou Mi says knowingly. “Jessica sunbae just said that you were and so I get to go with you. I am your mentee after all.” He smiles. “It’s going to be so much fun! I get to introduce you to my family and all.”
Kyuhyun stands up without a word and moves to leave the room so he could talk to Jessica about the said flight. He always makes sure that he never gets assigned to China. Ever. But Zhou Mi stops him with a hand on his arm and a frown on his face just as he had walked out of the room.
“Please don’t change the flight,” Zhou Mi quietly and politely insists. “I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to go again.”
“I’m not going to change your flight,” Kyuhyun appeases him. “Just mine.” He starts to walk again but he is stopped once more.
“I already asked,” Zhou Mi relays. “If you change your flight, they change mine, too.” He pauses when Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything. “I know what China means to you, what it reminds you of and I’m sorry for that but please, please don’t ask to change the flight.”
Kyuhyun stills and suddenly feels bad for how rashly he has acted. He looks at Zhou Mi for the first time and sees how much this China trip means to him, how badly he wants to go. He sighs and groans inwardly.
“Fine,” Kyuhyun snaps.
“Really?” Zhou Mi says in surprise, his face suddenly blossoming just like flowers in the springtime.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Kyuhyun retorts.
Zhou Mi launches himself onto him and wraps his arms around him in a hug. Kyuhyun freezes, unsure of what to do or how to feel.
He is in the middle of thinking of his options when Zhou Mi untangles himself from him.
“Thank you so much, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi happily breathes.
Kyuhyun’s mind is jilted as he forgets the relief that he feels when Zhou Mi finally released him from the hug.
“What did you call me?” he demands.
“Er, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi repeats hesitatingly.
“What is Kui Xian?” Kyuhyun brokenly questions.
“Well you wouldn’t let me call you sunbae so I just thought that I’d call you with something else,” Zhou Mi explains in a rather fast way. “It’s your name in Chinese.”
“You’ve never called me that before,” Kyuhyun says, trying to recall when he’s ever heard him call him that before.
“I have,” Zhou Mi gently corrects him.
“You have not,” Kyuhyun insists. He believes he would know if he has because he would have reacted the same way he is acting now.
“I have,” Zhou Mi maintains. He looks down and fidgets with his hands. “You just never seem to hear.” He diverts the subject. “Anyway, I didn’t know what to call you that wouldn’t seem disrespectful so I just decided to call you something no one’s called you before.”
“There’s a reason why I don’t let you call me sunbae,” Kyuhyun finally answers.
Zhou Mi looks surprised for a second. “I know,” he replies.
“There are just some things I don’t want to relive,” Kyuhyun goes on, sighing as he stares at his shoes.
There’s a silence between them, a silence that would usually make Kyuhyun feel uncomfortable. But, strangely enough, he doesn’t find this silence disconcerting.
Zhou Mi is all sparkles, all shiny and bright and happy. Kyuhyun is all apathy and ennui, all gloomy and dark and sad. But somewhere along the way they-or Kyuhyun-found that they could actually get along, and maybe even become friends.
“I’ll go and tell Jessica sunbae to change our flights,” Zhou Mi speaks up. “Maybe we can go to South Africa instead. I hear it’s lovely there this time of the year.”
“Don’t be stupid. It’s perfect in China this time of the year,” Kyuhyun retorts and walks back to the room.
Zhou Mi smiles.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun is standing outside of Zhou Mi’s house in China.
He looks at the simple white house, ogles at the antique main door, and stares at the pretty flowers decorating the front lawn. But, most of all, he watches as Zhou Mi is practically smothered with hugs by his mom and dad.
This takes a while as his mom keeps on fussing over him, checking his hair, his face, his arms, every inch of his body to make sure he’s fine, while his dad keeps on patting his shoulder and pulls him back into a hug every second.
When Zhou Mi finally gets to untangle himself from his parents, he pulls Kyuhyun and introduces them to him. Kyuhyun smiles and bows and talks a bit about himself, although there isn’t much to tell. His parents are all smiley and he could just see why Zhou Mi is exactly the way he is. And he isn’t talking just about smiles.
“So… this is my home,” Zhou Mi announces once they had been fed and had settled down.
“You also believe that no place in the world is the same, don’t you?” Kyuhyun questions rather abrasively, randomly thinking back to his conversation with Sungmin about Disneyland.
Zhou Mi just looks at him for a while as if deep in thought. Then he smiles. “Well, this is my home, Kui Xian,” he responds. “For me, there is no place like home. There isn’t any place in the world that can substitute this.”
“Figures,” Kyuhyun mutters.
The taller male studies him for a second then bravely asks, “Where is home for you, Kui Xian?”
“I don’t have a home,” is Kyuhyun’s flat reply.
~ * ~
Zhou Mi brings Kyuhyun everywhere in China, no matter how hard he protested that it isn’t the first time he’s been there. It’s the exact reason why Zhou Mi wants to take him to all places because he hasn’t been there in so long.
Zhou Mi buys him all such trinkets that Kyuhyun thinks he will just eventually throw away. He barely keeps anything from his travels. He isn’t one for keeping things for memories or remembrances. He has stopped being sentimental a long time ago.
It takes Zhou Mi a whole day to shop for what Kyuhyun thinks are all unnecessary things and finally unwind in a small, outdoor restaurant.
“I like your coat,” Zhou Mi says just to break the silence. He smiles widely.
“You picked this out,” Kyuhyun replies, rolling his eyes.
“I know,” Zhou Mi proudly states. “I have good taste.”
“Congratulations,” Kyuhyun scoffs, poking his chopsticks into his bowl.
They eat in silence for a while, each absorbed in their own thoughts; Zhou Mi’s filled with thoughts of China and home, Kyuhyun’s filled with China and how he would like to leave.
The sound of a plane jerks them out of their thoughts. Kyuhyun looks up and watches the plane fly by. Zhou Mi watches Kyuhyun instead.
“You know, there was a time when I believed in things like home,” Kyuhyun surprisingly opens up. Zhou Mi is surprised but doesn’t say anything, afraid that he would say something that would make him stop. “That isn’t the case anymore. It hasn’t been for a while.”
“What-why?” Zhou Mi stammers.
“Things change,” Kyuhyun replies with a shrug, turning back to his food.
“Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi begins but stops as Kyuhyun chuckles.
“You know it’s funny that I let you call me Kui Xian when I don’t let you call me sunbae,” Kyuhyun shares, meeting his eyes. “It’s a bit hypocritical of me.”
“What are you talking about?” Zhou Mi asks curiously.
“Hyukjae used to call me Kui Xian,” Kyuhyun answers, taking a sip of his drink. “Just like he used to call me sunbae.”
It is said so abruptly that Zhou Mi gasps and freezes. But once he realizes that Kyuhyun meant to say his name, meant to talk about him to him, meant to open up to him, he is beyond shocked.
“I applied to be a flight attendant because I wanted to see the world,” Kyuhyun continues to share, “because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to. It was the only way. But I used to be scared shit of flying. How could it be the safest form of travel when you’re thousands of feet off the ground?” He snickers.
“But it is the safest form of travel,” Zhou Mi is unable to control confirming.
“I know,” Kyuhyun pointedly tells him. He sighs. “I know.”
Zhou Mi has always thought that Kyuhyun was rather beautiful. His face and features were like those of Greek gods, almost round eyes, perfectly sculpted nose, stunning lips. His hair looks like it didn’t need to be styled because it styled its own. He was tall and lithe. But he thinks that Kyuhyun is most beautiful when he is open and unguarded, like how is being at the moment.
“We were here, in China. I was leaving that morning for Florence, while he was staying for another day to wait for his flight to Canada,” Kyuhyun goes on, somehow unable to stop himself from saying things. He half smiles and half smirks. “We had this thing where we’re always supposed to see each other off when we have separate flights after being in one together. Dumbass had to go off somewhere before going to the airport. He was late and was rushing.”
Kyuhyun lets out a breath and looks up at the night sky.
Zhou Mi remembers the news article. He remembers because it was around that time, three years ago, that he first decided to apply to become a flight attendant for Korean Air. He made sure that he learned everything by heart, including all the names of the flight attendants in the roster because he wanted to be able to know which people would be good to work with and be assigned with. Lee Hyukjae was one of the top-ranking flight attendants in the company. Because Cho Kyuhyun was his mentor.
Lee Hyukjae died in a car accident.
Found in the wreckage was a black velvet box. It seemed he had meant to propose to Kyuhyun that morning.
Zhou Mi reaches for Kyuhyun’s hand across the table without thinking. “I’m sorry.”
Kyuhyun stares at his hand in Zhou Mi’s.
The Layover
Kyuhyun never thought it is possible for him and Zhou Mi to be more attached than they already were. Always doing things together, Kyuhyun isn’t bothered at all. He is starting to think that maybe having Zhou Mi around is a good thing.
Zhou Mi keeps him company and keeps him entertained. He decides that those were the only two things why he likes having him around. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Yeah right,” Heechul taunts. “Just friends my ass.”
“Heechul,” Jungsoo chides. “There are different names to relationships, you know. If Kyuhyun calls the love between him and Zhou Mi as being just friends then so be it.”
“WE. ARE. NOT. IN. LOVE.,” Kyuhyun fumes. He looks like he wanted to strangle the two males, but decides against it because he knows that Heechul would murder him. “We really are just friends. It’s not code for anything.”
“Since when are you so touchy about this?” Heechul responds as if Kyuhyun wasn’t bursting in annoyance. “Actually, since when are you so touchy about anything? What happened to being non-committal and bored about everything?”
“I am not touchy,” Kyuhyun huffs.
“Look, Kyu, I don’t know why you’re so afraid to admit that you guys have feelings for each other,” Jungsoo comments. “It’s not like people around you are blind.”
“How many times do I have to say this?” Kyuhyun groans. “We really are just friends. Just because you two randomly decided to get married in Argentina, without inviting us by the way, doesn’t mean that everyone around you is in love.”
“Fine then,” Sungmin says, speaking for the first time, before the couple could react. “But he’s certainly in love with you. It’s impossible that you don’t see that.”
Kyuhyun agrees with him. With how Zhou Mi shows his affection in every way, how could he miss it? Zhou Mi holds his hand, puts his arm around his waist and kisses him on the cheek. Zhou Mi cooks for him, helps pack his things, and wakes him up in time for his flights. Zhou Mi always checks on him, brings him back to the hotel room when he’s too drunk to do so himself and takes care of him.
It is exactly like how Hyukjae treated him. And he knew that Hyukjae loved him.
Kyuhyun decides right then and there that maybe it’s not such a good idea for them to be so close to each other all the time. He determines that it’s probably time for Zhou Mi to be promoted so that he wouldn’t have to be his mentee anymore.
~ * ~
“How could you do this without telling me?” Zhou Mi’s hurt and angry voice echoes in the room right after the door slams shut.
Kyuhyun closes his eyes for a second then opens them. He turns around the face the Chinese man.
“Relax, Mi,” Kyuhyun says, smiling a little. “It’s just a change of flight.”
“It’s not just a change of flight,” Zhou Mi counters, frowning. “You asked to stop being my mentor.”
“Which means that you’re okay to stand on your own two feet,” Kyuhyun elaborates. “You’ve been promoted.”
“How can you not tell me?” Zhou Mi asks again. “You know how much this means to me. You know how much I treasure our trips together.”
“Stop being so melodramatic,” Kyuhyun replies, chuckling forcefully. “They’re just trips. You still get to do them, just with other people. You don’t need me.”
Zhou Mi becomes quiet for a long time that Kyuhyun is forced to look up. He immediately regrets doing so because tears are brimming in Zhou Mi’s eyes, something that he recognizes he never wants to see.
“I don’t need you?” Zhou Mi echoes, a mocking note in his voice. “I’m not the one who keeps pushing people away. I’m not the one who’s pushing you away.” He pauses for a second, waiting for him to say something.
Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know how to voice out what he is feeling.
“You’re the one who is pushing me away, Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi clears up. “You’re the one who doesn’t need me.”
Kyuhyun stands in the middle of the empty room for quite some time long after Zhou Mi left.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun flies to Italy right after that, a special request from him to Jessica.
He walks down the streets of Florence, hands in his pockets. He thinks about how beautiful everything is and how he never gets tired of flying there. Sometimes he thinks that if anyone asks him where home is, he could probably say Florence.
But then home makes him think of that one night in China where he had that conversation with Zhou Mi about home.
It makes him realize that Florence isn’t home. Florence is just another one of those places that seem significant in his life, but isn’t really. Florence is just the place he runs to when things happen. Just like Hyukjae’s death. Just like Zhou Mi leaving him.
He begins to wonder what it would be like if he didn’t ask to stop mentoring Zhou Mi. They would probably be walking the streets of Florence together. Zhou Mi would probably stop at every shop, buying his souvenirs, taking pictures of everything and nagging at him to try on the clothes.
He shakes those thoughts away. They have parted ways. There is no need to think about what might have beens or what could have beens. Things are over between them, if there was even anything between them.
He turns a corners and stops when he feels his phone vibrate. Taking it out, he sees an unknown number and knows at once that it was Heechul calling.
“What to you want?” he answers.
Almost immediately, color is drained from his face.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun is in the hospital, along with Heechul, Jungsoo and Sungmin. Kyuhyun is sitting down, while Heechul keeps on pacing around with Jungsoo following him. Sungmin just looks at the three of them.
Zhou Mi is in the hospital because he is stupid, Kyuhyun thinks. Zhou Mi is stupid because he drank half a bottle of soju then got into a car to drive. Zhou Mi is stupid because he knows how much he hates car accidents and yet he got himself into one.
“You’re the one who’s being stupid,” Heechul pronounces. “Stop whining.”
“Heechul,” Jungsoo scolds him.
“What?” Heechul retorts. “It’s true. He’s the one who started all of this. He is the one who is stupid.”
Jungsoo pulls Heechul away before he could say anything more hurtful to Kyuhyun. Sungmin, who is just standing there, watching Kyuhyun sink deeper into despair, finally sits down beside him.
“You know better than to listen to Heechul when he’s under stress,” Sungmin gently reminds him as he put an arm around his shoulder. “He doesn’t mean it. It’s not true. You’re not stupid.”
“Aren’t I?” Kyuhyun inquires uncertainly. “I think Heechul’s right. If it weren’t for me-.”
“Don’t you dare do this again,” Sungmin sharply interrupts. Kyuhyun stares at him in surprise. “You are not responsible for every car accident that happens in the world, Kyuhyun. It’s not your fault that Hyukjae died in one and it’s not your fault that Zhou Mi got into one.”
“I wouldn’t call it their fault either,” Kyuhyun mutters. “There’s a reason behind every action.”
“And that isn’t you,” Sungmin declares boldly. “Their reasons may involve you, but it’s their own reasons, their own choices and not because you willed it. It’s not your fault.”
Kyuhyun is quiet for a while.
“Where is home for you, Sungmin?” Kyuhyun then asks.
Sungmin looks confused but answers nevertheless. “Home for me is Ilsan.”
“Why is Ilsan your home?” Kyuhyun presses.
“Because I grew up there, my family is there, I have friends there,” Sungmin explains, not entirely sure what Kyuhyun is on about. “Being in Ilsan makes me feel at peace. It reminds me of my dreams and things I want to achieve. It makes me happy.” He observes as Kyuhyun ponders his words. “Why do you ask?”
“There is no place that makes me feel that way,” Kyuhyun informs him, meeting his eyes. “Traveling has made me numb to places to call home. I have no home.”
Sungmin just looks at him for a while. Then he smiles.
“You do have a home, Kyuhyun,” Sungmin tells him. “You just have to stop being afraid to see it.”
Check-out
“Are you sure you can walk? I can call the nurse and ask her to bring in a wheelchair. You don’t have to walk if it’s hard for you.”
“I can walk,” Zhou Mi calmly confirms, holding onto his hand.
Kyuhyun nods and helps him out of the room, Zhou Mi’s bags on his shoulders. As they walk out of the room, they’re met with Heechul and Sungmin.
“Let me help you,” Heechul offers.
“No, I’m fine with helping him,” Kyuhyun rebukes him.
Zhou Mi stops walking and slowly turns to Kyuhyun. “Heechul will help me,” he finalizes. “You should go home and get some rest.”
Heechul smirks as Zhou Mi reaches for his hand instead. Sungmin shoots Kyuhyun an apologetic glance before hurrying after the two down the hallway.
Kyuhyun stays behind.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun settles himself onto one of the seats on the hotel bar. He orders five shots of some alcoholic drink from the bartender and downs them both immediately to numb himself. He tries to allow himself to enjoy the lonely jazz music that is being played by the band.
This is the reason why he wants to leave already, why he doesn’t like staying in one place too long. He doesn’t like the quiet. He doesn’t like putting his own mind in the spotlight since he isn’t preoccupied with anything else. He hates thinking. Because it is in thinking that he remembers things that he would rather forget.
He lets out a breath, orders another shot and downs it at once. The numb is starting to settle in and he immediately feels so much better.
It’s the flash of red that enters the bar that catches his eye. He blinks and thinks he imagined it, attributing it to the alcohol that has entered his system.
But, apparently, it wasn’t the alcohol and he wasn’t imagining things.
“Is this seat taken?”
Kyuhyun gapes, unable to say anything or even form a coherent sentence in his brain. When he continues to stare, Zhou Mi decides to just take the empty seat. He calls the bartender and orders a Strawberry Daiquiri.
“What is it with you and female drinks?” Kyuhyun blurts out.
“It’s apparently a convenient conversation starter for you,” Zhou Mi replies, a small smile on his face.
“What are you doing here?” Kyuhyun asks him.
“What are you doing here?” Zhou Mi shoots back.
“What do you mean?” Kyuhyun wants to know, clearly confused.
“When I told you to go home, I didn’t mean that you disappear from me,” Zhou Mi explains, sighing in frustration.
“Oh, didn’t you?” Kyuhyun snaps, the confusion gone from his system. He grabs another shot and finishes it in a gulp. “Because, in case you’ve forgotten, I don’t have a house and I don’t like resting.”
“I only realized that after I had left,” Zhou Mi responds. “I didn’t intend for it to mean the way it sounded.”
Kyuhyun merely shrugs and stares at the jazz band.
“Why did you cancel your trips to come to the hospital?” Zhou Mi then asks him.
“Because Heechul sounded hysterical and seemed like he needed someone to calm him down,” Kyuhyun answers smoothly, not bothering to look at him.
“Jungsoo was there,” Zhou Mi reminds him.
“Yeah well, Heechul always needs more than one person to calm him down,” Kyuhyun elaborates.
“I missed you,” Zhou Mi finally declares. It is a quiet but very open affirmation of feelings, one that they had never talked of before.
“Is that why you keep drinking and driving, being a hazard to the community?” is Kyuhyun’s hurtful reply.
Zhou Mi is quiet for a second. Kyuhyun is angry with himself for his biting remarks, but is unable to do anything about it. What he knows is that he isn’t willing to go down that road for someone who is so eager to leave him.
“I see things haven’t changed since,” Zhou Mi finally starts again. “You still don’t need me, don’t want me.”
“Why are you always being so melodramatic?” Kyuhyun snaps, finally facing him.
“Why do you keep getting angry at everything?” Zhou Mi replies angrily.
“Because I am angry at everything,” Kyuhyun interrupts before he could continue any further. “I am angry because you don’t understand anything. You don’t understand how hard all of this is for me. You don’t understand how hard it is for me to let anyone in. My parents died and I had no one. And when I finally found someone, someone I thought worth sharing my life with, he died, too. I had no one again. It’s not easy for me.”
“I know that!” Zhou Mi insists heatedly. “I know that! I tried so hard to make you happy, to do everything your way, to slow things down so as not to scare you because I know it isn’t easy for you. I tried my best. I stayed by your side even when you didn’t want me to because I knew you still wanted me to and you weren’t just saying anything. I know.”
“If you know then why would you stupidly drink and drive?” Kyuhyun yells.
The jazz band stops playing for a second, startled, but the bartender urges them to continue playing.
“Let me refresh your memory, both my parents and Hyukjae died in car accidents,” Kyuhyun continues, almost growling.
“I’m sorry about that, I really am,” Zhou Mi yells back. “But I don’t understand why you’re so angry at me because of that.”
“I’m angry because you, unlike them, put yourself in danger by yourself. You know very well that you’re inhibitions are low and that people become stupid when they drink!” Kyuhyun explain in deep frustration. “They got into accidents and died because of forces outside of their control. But you, you got yourself into an accident because you decided that you would be brilliant and drink before driving.”
“What is it that you want to say?” Zhou Mi shouts. “Just tell me already so we can get this over with!”
“YOU ALMOST TOOK MY HOME FROM ME!!!” Kyuhyun finishes in anguish. Tears start streaming down Kyuhyun’s face and Zhou Mi is stunned. “You don’t know, Mi. You almost got yourself killed. You almost took someone I think is worth sharing my life with, someone I need and want away from me again.”
Zhou Mi stands up as Kyuhyun kneels in front of him, hugging his waist, sobbing on his shirt.
“Oh Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi softly calls, his heart breaking at the sound of his pain and fear.
“You’re my home, Mi,” Kyuhyun sobs. “I don’t have anything or anyone else. I just have you.”
Zhou Mi crouches down and lifts Kyuhyun’s face so he could wipe his tears away and clearly see his eyes.
“And you’ll always have me,” Zhou Mi assures him.
~ * ~
The airplane in his hand flies high, up in the sky. It flits in between clouds, dashes through the wind and goes past states, countries and continents. It is able to go the distance, able to save people from scary monsters and scary places. It is able to make people see other worlds and experience new things.
“Still playing with that, I see.”
Kyuhyun looks up and smiles, placing the toy airplane on the shelf. “Not really,” he says. “Just letting go.”
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Zhou Mi prompts him. “There really is no reason for you to-.”
“I want to,” Kyuhyun finalizes. “If Jungsoo and Heechul could do it, so can I.” He faces him. “So can we.”
A couple of years into being a flight attendant, Zhou Mi retired, following after Jungsoo and Heechul. The decision came from wanting to be more stable, more in one place, more at home somewhere in the world, a place he can call his own home, one that he could share with Kyuhyun in the future.
Kyuhyun continued being a top flight attendant. It took him two more years before he decided that he would stop being afraid and finally settle down with Zhou Mi, in one place, permanently.
“My Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi endearingly avows. “It’s nice to be home, isn’t it?”
Kyuhyun smiles. “It’s nice to be with you.”
Kyuhyun takes Zhou Mi’s hand in his and kisses it.
Flying is fun, but home is good, too.
===
With this, I would like to thank veezhi for the hand-holding through all of this. She listened to all my whining and stress and put up with all of it. Thank you! :)