[PG-13] Up in the Air [1/2]
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.
This is a one-shot, but LJ won't let me post it in one go so I'm dividing it into two parts. :D
Up in the Air
Flying is fun, but home is good, too.
-- Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
The Assignment
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.
“What are you, seven?”
The shock of someone finding him playing with a small, toy airplane sends it crashing to the ground. He stares at it for a full five seconds, wondering how something that can do so many wonderful things, fall so easily.
“Ya, Cho Kyuhyun, you better get up if you want to know which schedule you got.”
He stands up and follows Kim Heechul, who is more senior than he is in the company, down the long hallway and into the room at the end of it.
Walking inside, they find the rest of the group has already gathered and are just waiting for their assignments to be given out. Heechul moves to one side of the room, right beside Park Jungsoo, another one of the seniors, while Kyuhyun decides to stay in the back, right beside Lee Sungmin. The smaller male was positively beaming with excitement.
Kyuhyun understands the feeling. Assignment-giving day, which happens in Korea, is one of those days he, along with everyone else, looks forward to the most. The assignments given to them determines, at least for the senior ones, what their life would be like in the next couple of months.
He leans his back against the wall and hopes he would get sent somewhere in Europe. It would be spring there, which is the best season for visiting that continent.
“I hope I get to go to the United States this time,” Sungmin chirps and Kyuhyun feels a headache immediately coming on. It usually happens when Sungmin becomes too cheerful for his liking.
“What’s there that you want to see so much?” Kyuhyun asks conversationally as the crew scheduler walks in the room, a stack of papers in his hands.
“Disneyland,” Sungmin shares, his eyes sparkling as he looks at his friend.
“There’s one in Japan and in Hong Kong,” Kyuhyun reminds him. “You’ve even been to the one in Paris.”
Sungmin shakes his head. “It’s not the same. The original one is in the US,” he explains earnestly. “The original is always the best. It’s the home of Disneyland.”
Kyuhyun fights the urge to rolls his eyes. Sungmin is always so particular about the places he goes to and visits. Kyuhyun thinks each place in the world is the same no matter how different people say they are.
“They’re not the same,” Sungmin insists when he notices that Kyuhyun doesn’t believe him.
~ * ~
The seniors get the schedules that they want, as is practiced in the airline industry. Heechul and Jungsoo get to go to Paris. Sungmin finally gets to go and see the original Disneyland. Kyuhyun gets to go to Italy again. But, instead of being overly happy about it, like the way Sungmin was positively bouncing off walls, Kyuhyun merely sits on one of the chairs in the now empty room and stares out of the window.
“Why the glum face?” Jungsoo asks Kyuhyun. He glances at Heechul questioningly, but Heechul merely shrugs.
“I can’t wait to leave,” was Kyuhyun’s only answer.
The three males glance at each other. They know Kyuhyun pretty well, having worked with him for almost 10 years. They know that he isn’t one who likes to stay in one place too long. He is someone who was always on the move, always just dipping his feet in one place then jumps off to go to another.
“You don’t get to leave for another day,” Jungsoo tells him, glancing at the schedule he was holding.
Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything, despite knowing what was coming next.
“Where are you staying?” Heechul immediately questions.
Sungmin opens his mouth to offer his place, but is silenced by Kyuhyun turning around and looking at them and declining their unsaid offers.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun settles himself onto one of the seats on the hotel bar. He orders two 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 isn’t the alcohol and he isn’t imagining things.
“Is this seat taken?”
He is tall-taller than him-is slim, is wearing a simple but well put-together outfit, has pointy features, and has perfectly coiffed flaming red hair. It wasn’t any of those things that has gotten him staring at him mutely, it is the megawatt smile that he has on his face.
The male stares at him curiously when he doesn’t respond, probably wondering if he was mute or just stupid, before deciding to just sit down anyway with a small shrug. He then orders a Strawberry Daiquiri, which has Kyuhyun coughing all over the place.
“Are you okay?” the newcomer asks him, a frown that didn’t seem to be fit on him settling on his face.
“You do know that Strawberry Daiquiri is a female drink, right?” Kyuhyun tells him, giving the said drink a pointed look.
“You are blunt,” is the response he gets, along with a chuckle. “They were right.”
“They?” Kyuhyun echoes stupidly.
The man with the pointy features smiles so wide at him that Kyuhyun thinks about how he didn’t think smiles could be that big.
“I’m Zhou Mi,” he offers. “Friends call me Zhou Mi or Mi.”
Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything and just wonders how it would feel like if people called him by his whole name all the time. He doesn’t bother introducing himself. He always doesn’t bother because he knows they wouldn’t see each other again. But, apparently, he doesn’t need to tell him who he was.
“You’re Cho Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi continues in amazement, taking a sip of his Strawberry Daiquiri. “You’re pretty known in the industry.”
“Huh,” Kyuhyun mumbles, looking away and turning his attention back to the jazz band.
He knows what Zhou Mi is talking about. He is Cho Kyuhyun, 30 years old, and a flight attendant for almost all of his life. He applied to be a flight attendant at 19 years old, got accepted and never looked back. Throughout the years, he slowly climbed his way up, until he became one of the lineholders in his current airline, one who is able to bid for and practically choose schedules and places to travel to.
But he knows that isn’t all he is famous for. There is a name attached to that other story.
He coughs again before he allows himself to think back and focuses his gaze back on Zhou Mi, the man with the megawatt smile. He studies him for a couple of seconds, wondering how this man knows him.
“I’m a new flight attendant for Korean Air,” Zhou Mi launches the explanation onto him before he could get a word out, bestowing on him another one of his big smiles. “I’ve been actually looking for you, hoping to get you as my mentor.”
Kyuhyun always thinks back on this day and believes that this is where it all began.
Check-In
Kyuhyun is up before the sun rises. He gets up and plants his feet flat on the floor, breathing in out and out deeply.
One would think that in doing this job for almost 10 years, he has already gotten into the habit of sleeping at hotels, sleeping and waking up alone. But it still isn’t something he’s used to.
He eyes the toy airplane that was on his bedside table, picks it up and plays with it for a while. Then he puts it back down and picks up a framed photo instead. He looks at it, looks at the face that continues to haunt his dreams and even his life.
Sometimes Kyuhyun thinks about people. Sometimes he thinks about time and how fast everything changes. Sometimes he thinks about how things would have been if certain people he wanted to stay did stay.
Sometimes he thinks about how he wishes he didn’t have to think about these things at all. And in times like these, he always looks back at the smiling face in the framed photo, hoping against all hope that the life he is living isn’t the reality that he is in.
He gets disappointed every time.
Letting out a breath, he pushes himself off of the bed and packs his things, the few bits and pieces of his life into his suitcase. He places the framed photo on the very top, along with his toy airplane.
~ * ~
When Kyuhyun opens the door to step out of his room, Zhou Mi is standing there, all bright and dandy. He looks as thought he was about to knock because he is suddenly hastily stuffing his right hand into his pocket.
“Good morning!” Zhou Mi says instead and goes into step with Kyuhyun down the hallway to the elevators.
“What are you doing?” Kyuhyun asks in a bit of irritation. Just when he thinks he’s gotten rid of flying with someone who seemed like he was seeing rainbows all the time (i.e. Sungmin), here comes Zhou Mi with his huge smiles and cheerful disposition.
“I…” Zhou Mi begins, hesitating slightly at the sight of his scowl. “Heechul sunbae told me that I should go and check if you were awake and that I should wait for directions from you.” He stops talking as they entered the elevator, which had glass as its walls.
Kyuhyun stands on one side, putting as big of a space as he could between them. He doesn’t remember saying yes to being his mentor so he isn’t sure why he is following him around and annoying him. What surprises him more is how Zhou Mi doesn’t seem to be very fazed by the negative aura that he has on. He’s pretty sure that it’s known in the industry as well that he isn’t very nice to people he doesn’t really know.
“Kyuhyun sunbaenim,” Zhou Mi, who was situated on the other side of the elevator, starts to say, but Kyuhyun silences him with a glare.
“Don’t call me sunbaenim,” Kyuhyun bitingly demands, crossing his arms on his chest.
Zhou Mi looks at him, surprised at his outburst. “But… what do I call you?”
Kyuhyun grumpily shrugs. “Just not that,” he mutters. He looks up at the elevator floor indicator and wills the elevator to go down faster. He really doesn’t want to go into further conversation with this man who he’s only met the other night and who is acting like they were friends already.
Once the elevator stops moving and opens at the ground floor, Kyuhyun steps out without a word. Zhou Mi follows him quietly.
They reach Incheon airport in no time. The two immediately go to the crew room below the airport concourse.
“I see you’ve met Seasoning,” is the first thing Heechul says when Kyuhyun walks into the crew room in Incheon airport with Zhou Mi in tow.
Kyuhyun mutters something unintelligible and just walks straight towards one of the computers and checks in for his trip. Zhou Mi follows him and hovers over his shoulder, watching him in fascination and excitement.
“You’re going to be in the Italy trip, too?” Zhou Mi chirps, making Heechul, Jungsoo, Sungmin and all the other flight attendance laugh at his obvious enthusiasm.
“Of course he is,” Jungsoo states, chuckling at Kyuhyun’s not-so-amused expression. “The mentee always goes where the mentor is.”
“I am not his mentor,” Kyuhyun grumbles then turns to Zhou Mi and repeats it. “I am not your mentor.” He frowns at Sungmin, who merely shrugs and walks out of the room.
“Yes you are,” Heechul corrects, somewhat sternly and with a tone of finality. “I say you are, which makes you his mentor.”
“That’s enough, Heechul,” Jessica, the gorgeous but icy lead flight attendant, scolds him. She had walked in the room, catching the light bantering of the other attendants. She smiles at Kyuhyun. “Sungmin’s waiting for you outside.”
Zhou Mi watches as Kyuhyun steps out of the room and talks to Sungmin at the doorway.
“He really makes one curious,” Jungsoo comments, siding up to him just as Jessica started briefing some of the attendants. When Zhou Mi doesn’t say anything and just continues watching the two in the doorway, he goes on, “They’re not together if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“They seem so close,” Zhou Mi comments as Sungmin gently pats Kyuhyun’s arm and pulls him into a hug.
“Kyuhyun isn’t close to anyone,” Heechul butts in, readying his black, stroller luggage. He ignores Jungsoo’s glare and continues, “Kyuhyun doesn’t open up to just anyone.”
“But you guys are friends?” Zhou Mi clears up, looking at Heechul and Jungsoo then at Kyuhyun, who was now alone as Sungmin has already left.
“We work together,” Jungsoo clarifies. “Sungmin’s always mistaken to be his close friend, but he doesn’t know any more than any other person he’s worked with before. Which is nothing.”
“If you’re curious about him, go ask him,” Heechul encourages, ignoring Jungsoo’s pinching on his arm.
Zhou Mi misses the knowing smirk on Heechul’s face as he turns to watch Kyuhyun in the doorway once more.
~ * ~
Zhou Mi stops in his tracks, almost tripping when Kyuhyun suddenly swerves around to face him as soon as they enter the plane. Before the other flight attendants behind them could complain, Kyuhyun grabs Zhou Mi’s arm and pulls him to the side, where they wouldn’t be any bother and where no one would overhear.
“Listen,” Kyuhyun starts before Zhou Mi could get a word out. “The things you say or do on this flight will be my responsibility. Anything that you do or anything that you say will have a bearing on my performance and me so just don’t do or say anything stupid. You do as you’re told and that’s it.”
There is a smile on Zhou Mi’s face before he could continue any further and this irritates him.
“What are you smiling about?” Kyuhyun demands.
“So does this mean you’re agreeing to mentor me?” Zhou Mi asks, the grin on his face widening.
“No need to be so happy about it,” Kyuhyun grumbles, leaving Zhou Mi alone.
And even as the standard briefing on safety measures, flight times and the weather is conducted, Zhou Mi continues to radiate that happiness all around him.
In-flight
Things continue on like that, Zhou Mi radiating happiness and Kyuhyun grumbling about it. Everywhere Kyuhyun goes, Zhou Mi is there, which is something that annoys Kyuhyun to no end, but, surprisingly, doesn’t do anything about it.
“So, you mean, I just pull it like this and it’ll blow up?” Zhou Mi innocently inquires, tugging at the yellow life vest around his neck.
“It will not blow up,” Kyuhyun corrects him rather harshly.
“I’d like to see that happening, though,” Heechul comments, happy that Kyuhyun is so incensed with Zhou Mi.
They have been reviewing flight safety measures for the past hour and Zhou Mi doesn’t seem to get anything right, at least according to Kyuhyun. Jungsoo and Heechul, meanwhile, are very happy that Zhou Mi just keeps on asking Kyuhyun the same questions over and over again. Because it interests them to see just how far Kyuhyun is willing to put up with the smiling Chinese man.
“Oh but I didn’t mean blow up blow up,” Zhou Mi clarifies. “I just meant that air would fill it and-.”
“Yes,” Kyuhyun interrupts, not wanting to hear any more of his explanations. “Seriously. How did you ever get accepted into this program if you don’t know the most basic of in-flight safety?”
“I hear it’s because of his beauty,” Jungsoo pipes in, expression serious. Kyuhyun stares at him.
“And his long legs,” Heechul continues.
“You like long legs, right, Kyuhyun?” Jungsoo adds.
“You do?” Zhou Mi asks, rather cheerfully before Kyuhyun is able to retort.
“Just pull the damn cords so it’ll blow up in your face,” Kyuhyun grumbles, glaring at him and the life vest as if willing it to blow up.
Suddenly, a cheerful Chinese-sounding tone fills the room. It rings long enough that Heechul asks Jungsoo to a silly dance, while Kyuhyun cringes to no end. Zhou Mi stops tugging on the cords, removes the life vest around his neck and races to his bag on the other end of the room.
Kyuhyun watches as the tall red head answers his phone happily and talks in rapid Chinese. He decides to close his eyes to block all things cheerful and all things Zhou Mi.
They have been hanging out too much ever since he agreed to be his mentor. They spent time in all of the places they went to, all the layovers and airport stopovers. Kyuhyun wonders why he’s subjecting himself to such torture.
“You like him, don’t you?” Heechul nudges Kyuhyun, making him open his eyes.
Both males have stopped dancing around and were now looking at him. Kyuhyun merely closes his eyes once more. Heechul nudges him again and Kyuhyun opens his eyes once again to glare at him. This sends Jungsoo on a laughing spree.
“You do like him,” Jungsoo confirms.
“Says who? You?” Kyuhyun challenges.
“Says the past three months you’ve been attached to his hip,” Jungsoo counters confidently.
Kyuhyun scoffs, but doesn’t say anything else.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun watches under a bored gaze as Zhou Mi tried on what seemed like dozens of different coats. He watches as Zhou Mi slides on a dark blue one on his slim arms and shoulders and turns around to view every angle of his body on the mirror. Through the mirror, Kyuhyun looks at his tiny waist, his slender arms and his mile-long legs. He silently agrees to what Jungsoo had said. He does like long legs.
Without realizing it, those long legs were suddenly right in front of his face. He looks up and blinks. Zhou Mi is beaming at him.
“What?” Kyuhyun grouches. “Are you finally done?”
“Yes,” Zhou Mi tells him. “But…” He hesitates.
“But what?” Kyuhyun grounds on, fearing that he’s going to say that he needs other articles of clothing to go with his coat.
“I was wondering…” Zhou Mi starts, shifting in his stance.
“Spit it out,” Kyuhyun urges.
“I was hoping you would try this on,” Zhou Mi finally says, showing him a long brown coat that covered even his neck.
Kyuhyun stares at the coat for a full three seconds before shifting his attention to Zhou Mi’s hopeful face. He thinks about saying no because he really hates shopping for anything. Then he thinks about how the smile would be wiped away from Zhou Mi’s face and realizes that he’s going to hate that more.
Without a word, he grabs the coat from him, ignoring Zhou Mi’s squeal of joy, and stalks to the front of the mirror to put it on.
“Oh it’s perfect!” Zhou Mi gushes, standing behind his back to look at his reflection.
He turns Kyuhyun around to face him so he is able to properly fix the buttons and Kyuhyun couldn’t help but think that he’s never been so close to him before. Not realizing it, he studies the way his red hair falls over his forehead, almost covering on of his eyes, how his eyes seem to sparkle and how-.
“Are you okay?” Zhou Mi’s voice seeps into his fried brain. “You were, um, staring at me.”
“Your nose is big,” Kyuhyun says the first thing that he thinks of. He shrugs the coat off and walks to the counter to pay for it.
Part 2
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.
This is a one-shot, but LJ won't let me post it in one go so I'm dividing it into two parts. :D
Up in the Air
Flying is fun, but home is good, too.
-- Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
The Assignment
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.
“What are you, seven?”
The shock of someone finding him playing with a small, toy airplane sends it crashing to the ground. He stares at it for a full five seconds, wondering how something that can do so many wonderful things, fall so easily.
“Ya, Cho Kyuhyun, you better get up if you want to know which schedule you got.”
He stands up and follows Kim Heechul, who is more senior than he is in the company, down the long hallway and into the room at the end of it.
Walking inside, they find the rest of the group has already gathered and are just waiting for their assignments to be given out. Heechul moves to one side of the room, right beside Park Jungsoo, another one of the seniors, while Kyuhyun decides to stay in the back, right beside Lee Sungmin. The smaller male was positively beaming with excitement.
Kyuhyun understands the feeling. Assignment-giving day, which happens in Korea, is one of those days he, along with everyone else, looks forward to the most. The assignments given to them determines, at least for the senior ones, what their life would be like in the next couple of months.
He leans his back against the wall and hopes he would get sent somewhere in Europe. It would be spring there, which is the best season for visiting that continent.
“I hope I get to go to the United States this time,” Sungmin chirps and Kyuhyun feels a headache immediately coming on. It usually happens when Sungmin becomes too cheerful for his liking.
“What’s there that you want to see so much?” Kyuhyun asks conversationally as the crew scheduler walks in the room, a stack of papers in his hands.
“Disneyland,” Sungmin shares, his eyes sparkling as he looks at his friend.
“There’s one in Japan and in Hong Kong,” Kyuhyun reminds him. “You’ve even been to the one in Paris.”
Sungmin shakes his head. “It’s not the same. The original one is in the US,” he explains earnestly. “The original is always the best. It’s the home of Disneyland.”
Kyuhyun fights the urge to rolls his eyes. Sungmin is always so particular about the places he goes to and visits. Kyuhyun thinks each place in the world is the same no matter how different people say they are.
“They’re not the same,” Sungmin insists when he notices that Kyuhyun doesn’t believe him.
~ * ~
The seniors get the schedules that they want, as is practiced in the airline industry. Heechul and Jungsoo get to go to Paris. Sungmin finally gets to go and see the original Disneyland. Kyuhyun gets to go to Italy again. But, instead of being overly happy about it, like the way Sungmin was positively bouncing off walls, Kyuhyun merely sits on one of the chairs in the now empty room and stares out of the window.
“Why the glum face?” Jungsoo asks Kyuhyun. He glances at Heechul questioningly, but Heechul merely shrugs.
“I can’t wait to leave,” was Kyuhyun’s only answer.
The three males glance at each other. They know Kyuhyun pretty well, having worked with him for almost 10 years. They know that he isn’t one who likes to stay in one place too long. He is someone who was always on the move, always just dipping his feet in one place then jumps off to go to another.
“You don’t get to leave for another day,” Jungsoo tells him, glancing at the schedule he was holding.
Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything, despite knowing what was coming next.
“Where are you staying?” Heechul immediately questions.
Sungmin opens his mouth to offer his place, but is silenced by Kyuhyun turning around and looking at them and declining their unsaid offers.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun settles himself onto one of the seats on the hotel bar. He orders two 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 isn’t the alcohol and he isn’t imagining things.
“Is this seat taken?”
He is tall-taller than him-is slim, is wearing a simple but well put-together outfit, has pointy features, and has perfectly coiffed flaming red hair. It wasn’t any of those things that has gotten him staring at him mutely, it is the megawatt smile that he has on his face.
The male stares at him curiously when he doesn’t respond, probably wondering if he was mute or just stupid, before deciding to just sit down anyway with a small shrug. He then orders a Strawberry Daiquiri, which has Kyuhyun coughing all over the place.
“Are you okay?” the newcomer asks him, a frown that didn’t seem to be fit on him settling on his face.
“You do know that Strawberry Daiquiri is a female drink, right?” Kyuhyun tells him, giving the said drink a pointed look.
“You are blunt,” is the response he gets, along with a chuckle. “They were right.”
“They?” Kyuhyun echoes stupidly.
The man with the pointy features smiles so wide at him that Kyuhyun thinks about how he didn’t think smiles could be that big.
“I’m Zhou Mi,” he offers. “Friends call me Zhou Mi or Mi.”
Kyuhyun doesn’t say anything and just wonders how it would feel like if people called him by his whole name all the time. He doesn’t bother introducing himself. He always doesn’t bother because he knows they wouldn’t see each other again. But, apparently, he doesn’t need to tell him who he was.
“You’re Cho Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi continues in amazement, taking a sip of his Strawberry Daiquiri. “You’re pretty known in the industry.”
“Huh,” Kyuhyun mumbles, looking away and turning his attention back to the jazz band.
He knows what Zhou Mi is talking about. He is Cho Kyuhyun, 30 years old, and a flight attendant for almost all of his life. He applied to be a flight attendant at 19 years old, got accepted and never looked back. Throughout the years, he slowly climbed his way up, until he became one of the lineholders in his current airline, one who is able to bid for and practically choose schedules and places to travel to.
But he knows that isn’t all he is famous for. There is a name attached to that other story.
He coughs again before he allows himself to think back and focuses his gaze back on Zhou Mi, the man with the megawatt smile. He studies him for a couple of seconds, wondering how this man knows him.
“I’m a new flight attendant for Korean Air,” Zhou Mi launches the explanation onto him before he could get a word out, bestowing on him another one of his big smiles. “I’ve been actually looking for you, hoping to get you as my mentor.”
Kyuhyun always thinks back on this day and believes that this is where it all began.
Check-In
Kyuhyun is up before the sun rises. He gets up and plants his feet flat on the floor, breathing in out and out deeply.
One would think that in doing this job for almost 10 years, he has already gotten into the habit of sleeping at hotels, sleeping and waking up alone. But it still isn’t something he’s used to.
He eyes the toy airplane that was on his bedside table, picks it up and plays with it for a while. Then he puts it back down and picks up a framed photo instead. He looks at it, looks at the face that continues to haunt his dreams and even his life.
Sometimes Kyuhyun thinks about people. Sometimes he thinks about time and how fast everything changes. Sometimes he thinks about how things would have been if certain people he wanted to stay did stay.
Sometimes he thinks about how he wishes he didn’t have to think about these things at all. And in times like these, he always looks back at the smiling face in the framed photo, hoping against all hope that the life he is living isn’t the reality that he is in.
He gets disappointed every time.
Letting out a breath, he pushes himself off of the bed and packs his things, the few bits and pieces of his life into his suitcase. He places the framed photo on the very top, along with his toy airplane.
~ * ~
When Kyuhyun opens the door to step out of his room, Zhou Mi is standing there, all bright and dandy. He looks as thought he was about to knock because he is suddenly hastily stuffing his right hand into his pocket.
“Good morning!” Zhou Mi says instead and goes into step with Kyuhyun down the hallway to the elevators.
“What are you doing?” Kyuhyun asks in a bit of irritation. Just when he thinks he’s gotten rid of flying with someone who seemed like he was seeing rainbows all the time (i.e. Sungmin), here comes Zhou Mi with his huge smiles and cheerful disposition.
“I…” Zhou Mi begins, hesitating slightly at the sight of his scowl. “Heechul sunbae told me that I should go and check if you were awake and that I should wait for directions from you.” He stops talking as they entered the elevator, which had glass as its walls.
Kyuhyun stands on one side, putting as big of a space as he could between them. He doesn’t remember saying yes to being his mentor so he isn’t sure why he is following him around and annoying him. What surprises him more is how Zhou Mi doesn’t seem to be very fazed by the negative aura that he has on. He’s pretty sure that it’s known in the industry as well that he isn’t very nice to people he doesn’t really know.
“Kyuhyun sunbaenim,” Zhou Mi, who was situated on the other side of the elevator, starts to say, but Kyuhyun silences him with a glare.
“Don’t call me sunbaenim,” Kyuhyun bitingly demands, crossing his arms on his chest.
Zhou Mi looks at him, surprised at his outburst. “But… what do I call you?”
Kyuhyun grumpily shrugs. “Just not that,” he mutters. He looks up at the elevator floor indicator and wills the elevator to go down faster. He really doesn’t want to go into further conversation with this man who he’s only met the other night and who is acting like they were friends already.
Once the elevator stops moving and opens at the ground floor, Kyuhyun steps out without a word. Zhou Mi follows him quietly.
They reach Incheon airport in no time. The two immediately go to the crew room below the airport concourse.
“I see you’ve met Seasoning,” is the first thing Heechul says when Kyuhyun walks into the crew room in Incheon airport with Zhou Mi in tow.
Kyuhyun mutters something unintelligible and just walks straight towards one of the computers and checks in for his trip. Zhou Mi follows him and hovers over his shoulder, watching him in fascination and excitement.
“You’re going to be in the Italy trip, too?” Zhou Mi chirps, making Heechul, Jungsoo, Sungmin and all the other flight attendance laugh at his obvious enthusiasm.
“Of course he is,” Jungsoo states, chuckling at Kyuhyun’s not-so-amused expression. “The mentee always goes where the mentor is.”
“I am not his mentor,” Kyuhyun grumbles then turns to Zhou Mi and repeats it. “I am not your mentor.” He frowns at Sungmin, who merely shrugs and walks out of the room.
“Yes you are,” Heechul corrects, somewhat sternly and with a tone of finality. “I say you are, which makes you his mentor.”
“That’s enough, Heechul,” Jessica, the gorgeous but icy lead flight attendant, scolds him. She had walked in the room, catching the light bantering of the other attendants. She smiles at Kyuhyun. “Sungmin’s waiting for you outside.”
Zhou Mi watches as Kyuhyun steps out of the room and talks to Sungmin at the doorway.
“He really makes one curious,” Jungsoo comments, siding up to him just as Jessica started briefing some of the attendants. When Zhou Mi doesn’t say anything and just continues watching the two in the doorway, he goes on, “They’re not together if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“They seem so close,” Zhou Mi comments as Sungmin gently pats Kyuhyun’s arm and pulls him into a hug.
“Kyuhyun isn’t close to anyone,” Heechul butts in, readying his black, stroller luggage. He ignores Jungsoo’s glare and continues, “Kyuhyun doesn’t open up to just anyone.”
“But you guys are friends?” Zhou Mi clears up, looking at Heechul and Jungsoo then at Kyuhyun, who was now alone as Sungmin has already left.
“We work together,” Jungsoo clarifies. “Sungmin’s always mistaken to be his close friend, but he doesn’t know any more than any other person he’s worked with before. Which is nothing.”
“If you’re curious about him, go ask him,” Heechul encourages, ignoring Jungsoo’s pinching on his arm.
Zhou Mi misses the knowing smirk on Heechul’s face as he turns to watch Kyuhyun in the doorway once more.
~ * ~
Zhou Mi stops in his tracks, almost tripping when Kyuhyun suddenly swerves around to face him as soon as they enter the plane. Before the other flight attendants behind them could complain, Kyuhyun grabs Zhou Mi’s arm and pulls him to the side, where they wouldn’t be any bother and where no one would overhear.
“Listen,” Kyuhyun starts before Zhou Mi could get a word out. “The things you say or do on this flight will be my responsibility. Anything that you do or anything that you say will have a bearing on my performance and me so just don’t do or say anything stupid. You do as you’re told and that’s it.”
There is a smile on Zhou Mi’s face before he could continue any further and this irritates him.
“What are you smiling about?” Kyuhyun demands.
“So does this mean you’re agreeing to mentor me?” Zhou Mi asks, the grin on his face widening.
“No need to be so happy about it,” Kyuhyun grumbles, leaving Zhou Mi alone.
And even as the standard briefing on safety measures, flight times and the weather is conducted, Zhou Mi continues to radiate that happiness all around him.
In-flight
Things continue on like that, Zhou Mi radiating happiness and Kyuhyun grumbling about it. Everywhere Kyuhyun goes, Zhou Mi is there, which is something that annoys Kyuhyun to no end, but, surprisingly, doesn’t do anything about it.
“So, you mean, I just pull it like this and it’ll blow up?” Zhou Mi innocently inquires, tugging at the yellow life vest around his neck.
“It will not blow up,” Kyuhyun corrects him rather harshly.
“I’d like to see that happening, though,” Heechul comments, happy that Kyuhyun is so incensed with Zhou Mi.
They have been reviewing flight safety measures for the past hour and Zhou Mi doesn’t seem to get anything right, at least according to Kyuhyun. Jungsoo and Heechul, meanwhile, are very happy that Zhou Mi just keeps on asking Kyuhyun the same questions over and over again. Because it interests them to see just how far Kyuhyun is willing to put up with the smiling Chinese man.
“Oh but I didn’t mean blow up blow up,” Zhou Mi clarifies. “I just meant that air would fill it and-.”
“Yes,” Kyuhyun interrupts, not wanting to hear any more of his explanations. “Seriously. How did you ever get accepted into this program if you don’t know the most basic of in-flight safety?”
“I hear it’s because of his beauty,” Jungsoo pipes in, expression serious. Kyuhyun stares at him.
“And his long legs,” Heechul continues.
“You like long legs, right, Kyuhyun?” Jungsoo adds.
“You do?” Zhou Mi asks, rather cheerfully before Kyuhyun is able to retort.
“Just pull the damn cords so it’ll blow up in your face,” Kyuhyun grumbles, glaring at him and the life vest as if willing it to blow up.
Suddenly, a cheerful Chinese-sounding tone fills the room. It rings long enough that Heechul asks Jungsoo to a silly dance, while Kyuhyun cringes to no end. Zhou Mi stops tugging on the cords, removes the life vest around his neck and races to his bag on the other end of the room.
Kyuhyun watches as the tall red head answers his phone happily and talks in rapid Chinese. He decides to close his eyes to block all things cheerful and all things Zhou Mi.
They have been hanging out too much ever since he agreed to be his mentor. They spent time in all of the places they went to, all the layovers and airport stopovers. Kyuhyun wonders why he’s subjecting himself to such torture.
“You like him, don’t you?” Heechul nudges Kyuhyun, making him open his eyes.
Both males have stopped dancing around and were now looking at him. Kyuhyun merely closes his eyes once more. Heechul nudges him again and Kyuhyun opens his eyes once again to glare at him. This sends Jungsoo on a laughing spree.
“You do like him,” Jungsoo confirms.
“Says who? You?” Kyuhyun challenges.
“Says the past three months you’ve been attached to his hip,” Jungsoo counters confidently.
Kyuhyun scoffs, but doesn’t say anything else.
~ * ~
Kyuhyun watches under a bored gaze as Zhou Mi tried on what seemed like dozens of different coats. He watches as Zhou Mi slides on a dark blue one on his slim arms and shoulders and turns around to view every angle of his body on the mirror. Through the mirror, Kyuhyun looks at his tiny waist, his slender arms and his mile-long legs. He silently agrees to what Jungsoo had said. He does like long legs.
Without realizing it, those long legs were suddenly right in front of his face. He looks up and blinks. Zhou Mi is beaming at him.
“What?” Kyuhyun grouches. “Are you finally done?”
“Yes,” Zhou Mi tells him. “But…” He hesitates.
“But what?” Kyuhyun grounds on, fearing that he’s going to say that he needs other articles of clothing to go with his coat.
“I was wondering…” Zhou Mi starts, shifting in his stance.
“Spit it out,” Kyuhyun urges.
“I was hoping you would try this on,” Zhou Mi finally says, showing him a long brown coat that covered even his neck.
Kyuhyun stares at the coat for a full three seconds before shifting his attention to Zhou Mi’s hopeful face. He thinks about saying no because he really hates shopping for anything. Then he thinks about how the smile would be wiped away from Zhou Mi’s face and realizes that he’s going to hate that more.
Without a word, he grabs the coat from him, ignoring Zhou Mi’s squeal of joy, and stalks to the front of the mirror to put it on.
“Oh it’s perfect!” Zhou Mi gushes, standing behind his back to look at his reflection.
He turns Kyuhyun around to face him so he is able to properly fix the buttons and Kyuhyun couldn’t help but think that he’s never been so close to him before. Not realizing it, he studies the way his red hair falls over his forehead, almost covering on of his eyes, how his eyes seem to sparkle and how-.
“Are you okay?” Zhou Mi’s voice seeps into his fried brain. “You were, um, staring at me.”
“Your nose is big,” Kyuhyun says the first thing that he thinks of. He shrugs the coat off and walks to the counter to pay for it.
Part 2