Changbin bobbed his head lightly to the music pouring in over his earbuds, the lonesome nightshift at the boba tea shop becoming occupied with those usual beats. He leaned on the counter, half bored out of his mind, the part which remained entertained only being saved by him spacing out to the songs which played in his ears. He decided to make a new playlist at four in the morning that same day, for two reasons. One was, so he had something new and interesting to listen to as he waited for his closing shift to end. Second was, he admitted made the playlist to give to Hyunjin. He wasn't sure when he would hand the cluster of songs he thought the other would enjoy over, but he knew at some point he would have to.

The current song he was listening to became interrupted by a ringing on his phone. He glanced over, recognizing the familiar caller ID and the screen that mirrored the ceiling on it's pixels to be a video chat. He quickly moved aside his energy drink to evacuate the space for the device, plucked the phone off the counter, and propped it up against the register where his energy drink had waited before. In the camera reflection, he fixed his hair a few times before swipping to answer the call.

"Hey, Hyunjin," Changbin greeted him as he folded his arms and propped himself up on the counter. As he usually did. The position was comfortable, and he wasn't about to find a new way to stand if the way he was standing was the most comfortable.

He took a moment to rake his eyes over the screen; The view of Hyunjin leaning back to sit in what looked to be a cushioned gray leather seat in a public space, his phone propped against something Changbin was assuming was atop a table, earphone wires dangling from his ears and a face mask covering everything below his nose bridge. He was dressed up in his business attire, as he usually was in public, with the exception of his blazer on the length of the seat next to him. The space itself Changbin couldn't see much of considering the phone was angled to look at Hyunjin on the video, but from what he could see there were a lot of windows. A lot. Most of the room was made up entirely of windows that stretched high into the night sky in a ladder-like pattern. Definitely was not Hyunjin's apartment.

The young businessman gave him a small wave, and before he could say anything, Changbin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "Where are you? Isn't it late? I'm supposed to be closing down in a few minutes."

"Airport terminal. I'm flying out again," Hyunjin spoke softly as he looked at the screen ahead of him. Voice quiet, slightly muffled underneath the face mask he wore, he must have been trying to keep his words below the level of noise in the space. The airport. It was also at this moment that Changbin noticed that Hyunjin's leg was crossed atop his other leg, the shoe of his folded leg tapping at the air as if he was trying to hammer morse code into the open atmosphere. It seemed more an occupying habit than a serious intention, but it was cute to watch nonetheless.

Changbin scrunched his nose up, "i thought you just got done with an event?"

"I wasn't supposed to be at that event. I was going to take it off so I wasn't worn out for this one," Hyunjin explained to him. More of that hushed voice hard to discern beneath the other sounds, what few there were. People rushing around, talking, a few snoring in the background, and the purr of attendants over intercom telling people to board their flights and when to board their flights. The young businessman sighed, "But that didn't work. As you know. Now I'm stuck flying out at nearly midnight on a Wednesday. I haven't gotten my laundry done either so I don't have most of my formal wear with me."

"That sucks massive dick. I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"Where are you off to this time?"

"Sydney. It's only for three days or so, but Sydney is a major financial hub so events there tend to me more uh..."

"Proper? They tend to be more proper and important and Mr. Hoshot Conglomerate Director boy can't ditch it?"

"That's a way to say it, yeah. I wasn't thinking proper, more like, large scale. There's a better word but I can't remember. I can't ever remember words," Hyunjin murmured. He glanced up from his phone for a brief second, eyes flickering around the public space to various people both behind the phone and behind where he sat. His foot started tapping faster at the air as his gaze became focused elsewhere, his voice suddenly diving down to a whisper as he hissed, "Changbin. People are looking at me. I don't want them to look at me."

"They're probably looking at you because you're talking on your phone and it looks like you're talking to yourself before they realize you have earphones in," Changbin countered with a soft snort. He pressed himself off the boba tea shop counter, reaching over to his energy drink to take a light sip on the bittersweet carbonation as Hyunjin turned his attention back to his phone screen. As soon as his eyes were back, Changbin spoke around the lip of the energy drink and teased him, "If you want people to stop looking at you, you're gonna have to stop talking to me. That sucks, don't it?"

Briefly, the thought flickered through Changbin's mind:

They're probably looking at him because he's attractive too.

But that wasn't enough of a legitimate thought for him to seriously continue in his mind. Nor in his words. Especially considering most of his features were covered up with the face mask, there wasn't much to look at besides his eyes.

"I don't want to stop talking to you but I don't want to be looked at," Hyunjin sunk into the cushion behind him, his shirt bunching up around the nape of his neck as he slid down on the terminal's seat to dodge the people looking at him. There couldn't have been that many who were looking at him "What I do want? I want a huge coffee."

"Go get a coffee?" Changbin urged him as he set his own bomb of caffeine back down on the counter.

Against the protests from his better self, his mind kept going, Hyunjin does have nice eyes though. I'd probably stare at them too if I saw him in public.

Or it's because he's dressed nice?

Wait.

Changbin scrunched his nose up as he looked the other over again. Why was Hyunjin dressed so nice in the first place? Wouldn't his slacks, button up, and blazer be too uncomfortable to sit in during a flight? Especially a long one that spanned a few hours over? Did he not have any time to change between arriving at the airport terminal and leaving from his work office? Will he not have time to change between the airplane landing and him arriving to the event to work? Is that how packed his schedule usually is? Was that normal? Was he even human? Was he still alive at this point?

The young businessman kept sliding down in the seat. His downward fall not stopped by any barrier. His hunch not controlled by any blockade. He kept sinking, hid spine nearly parallel to the cushion of the seat he was supposed to be sitting normally in. Like a normal human. Not the strange, mangled, turtled person he currently was. Hyunjin rambled off, his hands coming to lace on top of his stomach as he did what could be considered a vent of frustration, "If I do go get a coffee I'm going to have to need to use the restroom on the airplane and I don't want to use the restroom on the airplane because then I have to walk in front of someone to get out of the aisle and that's always super awkward."

Changbin wondered, "How long is the flight?"

"Ten hours."

"Yeah, you're screwed either way. Just bite the bullet and go get a coffee."

Hyunjin sighed. With a quick silence of protest and scowling down the phone screen with sharpened eyes, he scooped his phone up into his hand. He did a few other things, Changbin couldn't really tell what they were considering he was only given a view of the terminal ceiling as Hyunjin did them, he assumed he was packing up a laptop or grabbing carry-on luggage that was with him, but again, couldn't really entirely tell what the noises were or where they were coming from. All that mattered was, a few moments later, he was given the sight of Hyunjin warily wheeling his way down the terminal pathway, "I don't want to do this. Ordering food scares the hell out of me."

"Hyunjin, you work for a massive financial conglomerate. One that's borderline international. One that owns investment banks and a ton of other fancy stuff. You fly around the world and direct events for said conglomerate. Your line of work is purely interacting and ordering people around to do stuff for you," Changbin listed off. He angled his head down to a hand, rubbing into his forehead as he vocalized his disbelief towards Hyunjin, "And you're telling me you can't get yourself a vanilla latte from an airport Starbucks?"

"It's not that easy. The people at airport Starbucks' are a different breed of human. They're feral. They'll bite your head off," The young businessman argued to him, the fluctuations in his voice sounding borderline terrified of what he was describing. Like he really would have his head bitten off by the employees, as if he witnessed such an act before at an airport Starbucks, he was certain of it in his eyes and his tone. Despite the confidence and assertiveness Changbin witnessed from him before, Hyunjin kept going in hushed tones, "What if I stutter or mess up my order? What if I trip?"

Changbin scoffed, "Okay, and, what if a toilet falls out of the sky and hits you in the head? Then you'll never get your coffee."

"That's not going to happen."

"You're at an airport. It might. Toilets in the sky are kind of a thing there."

"Shit, you're right."

"Pun intended?"

"Pun not intended."

"Here, while you wait, I'll tell you this story. This couple came in together today and there was some serious relationship drama going on between them," Changbin started recalling. He grabbed the energy drink off the counter again, sipping on it, chatting, sipping on it, chatting, exchanging between the liquid and recounting the story as he watched Hyunjin mange his way through the terminal, "One of these idiots dropped his phone from his pocket and when he went to get it, he got himself stuck in the chair because he reached through the backing. So as they're fighting this guy is stuck in the chair."

Though he couldn't see his lips obstructed by the mask, the upturn of his eyes told Changbin he was smiling.

That was enough to prompt him to continue.

He kept on with the recounting of the conversation he eavesdropped on earlier that day, telling Hyunjin everything he remembered about the man who got stuck in his chair while he was arguing with his significant other, from how he kept trying to get out to the argument being enhanced by the chair. Only stopping when Hyunjin had to order the drink for himself, and pay. Not without reminding him to grab his wallet from the counter, of course. But picking back up with the story once he was waiting again, the younger eagerly nodding as he listened and occasionally gave his own input to the story. It seemed to be enough to distract him, and take his mind off of things.

Which, worked out well. For both of them.

It worked so well, talking back and forth about anything they could think of in the moment, that neither of them noticed how fast the time started passing.

Hyunjin removed the straw of his much needed iced coffee from between his lips, glancing up and away from his phone for a moment. His eyes came back to Changbin as he purred, "I have to go. We're boarding."

"I gotta close up here too, my shift ended a good twenty minutes ago," Changbin admitted, quickly glancing up to his own clock to make sure his sense of time was right. It was. Unfortunately. Meaning he hadn't been paying attention to the passing of the minutes. He gave a small wave to the phone, "Have a safe flight. Text me when you land so I know you didn't get kidnapped by aliens or space pirates or something."

"I will. And goodnight."

"Goodnight. Get some sleep on your way over."

He hung up the call.

Changbin sighed softly to himself and stared at the phone screen telling him the call had lasted too long to be normal, ended too soon for him to be satisfied. He wanted to talk more with Hyunjin. He wanted to keep seeing him, even if it was through the screen of his phone, more than he should have wanted.

This was an issue.

Hyunjin was an issue.

His feelings for Hyunjin were an issue.

Wait...

Feelings?

Did he really have feelings for Hyunjin?

Changbin uttered to himself, "Well, fuck."

•°•°•°•°