The airport is a damn strange place. Time never functions correctly here; it feels like the minutes are somehow stretching for hours and also going too quickly, and yet all the clocks in here are either broken or too big for the fuzzy heads of the airport visitors to wrap around. There are too many people, and it’s too loud, and there’s a child crying somewhere, and her friends are both bickering again (all in good fun, of course), and she can’t seem to actually spot their escort.
She doesn’t dare hope for a head of pink hair and golden eyes, for that mocking plastic crown and far too-expensive cape that she’d bought as a joke. Because he’s probably still on a plane here, not thinking about her, definitely only focusing on whatever shitty movie is playing on the back of the seat in front of him. He's probably got stupid airplane food clutched between his palms, ice cream that might as well be yoghurt on his tray and a cup of watery juice in the holder on his seat. She’ll see him later at the party, anyway.
Katie’s normally shiny hair is frazzled and messy and barely held together in the frantic bun she’d dragged it into. A suitcase is held firmly in one hand and her two friends are fighting for who gets to cling to the other. She squints her eyes to try and pick out who will be picking them up, and the crowd is so big, filled with brown heads of hair and regular-coloured eyes that she can’t stand. But then there’s a flash of pink, and a set of golden discs that are downcast at the muted blue of a phone screen, a crisp white shirt and casual jeans, rings cluttered onto long fingers and a single golden chain around a slender throat. Katie holds in her gasp and immediately nudges Cal and Kota with a subtle elbow.
“It’s my turn t-- oh, hi, Katie!” Cal’s voice is squeaky, his stature small – only marginally taller than Kota, who is currently trying to bat at his hair and shove him out the way. Katie almost laughs at their antics, but the sight of muted pink catches her again and she remains on track.
“Techno’s here,” Katie says, voice hushed and low in case he can somehow hear them from all the way across the airport. Kota stops her assaulting of Cal’s dark hair and gapes up at her.
“What?” She squeals, and simultaneously snatches everybody’s attention. Thousands of eyes snap to them, before they all realize it’s nothing interesting and boredly look away, going back to eating chick-fil-a and buying Rolexes at 7 in the morning.
There’s a brief moment where Techno looks at them, looks down again, and then does a snappy doubletake. Katie can see the exact moment where his eyes widen, liquid honey and somehow velvety, the corners of his mouth twitch upwards in a smile and then he’s walking towards them. Brisk steps beat like war drums in Katie’s ears as he gets closer, a smile splitting his face in the few seconds it takes for him to be excitedly standing barely a few feet away, and closer still until he’s facing them all. Cal immediately hugs him around the waist because he’s inevitably overcome with emotions that he can’t process, and Kota looks scandalized that he managed to get there before her.
This close, Katie can see how tall he really is; maybe 3 or 4 inches above her, smelling of cologne and mint and something that she can only describe as Techno. It takes Cal’s bony fingers digging into her side for her to realize she’s just standing there, slack jawed and wide eyed – and, by the way, when did he even switch places with Kota? She snaps her mouth shut in favor of a pleasant smile that really doesn’t cover the pink blossoming on her cheeks.
“Hey! How was your flight?” She asks pleasantly, and the three of them all launch into a discussion about airplane food and jetlag and all sorts. She’s not really paying attention, too busy wondering if she can coax Techno's braid free and run her fingers through pink swathes of silken hair, but, somehow, she finds herself walking with the group, chipping in with the frantic conversation as they enter a fancy looking taxi and set off towards their destination.
The hotel isn’t far away. It’s in the heart of the city, the streets outside bustling with activity even at this godforsaken hour. A throng of people that can only be described as far too many flit past and flicker between each other, clutching briefcases and handbags and purses full to bursting with paperwork. But it’s just them in her mind: just her and Kota and Cal and Techno. Calypso, who she's known all her life. Kota, her sibling who keeps shooting her knowing looks and giggling. Techno, who she’s never met in real life before. Techno, who’s hair is fittingly bright pink, who’s eyes are definitely too yellow to be natural. Techno, who’s looking at her expectantly, brows slightly drawn as if he's waiting for an answer and- wait, what was the question?
“Oh- uh, what?”
“I asked if you want to chill in my room,” He repeats with a nervous laugh, and Katie immediately flicks her eyes to her two friends, who are vigorously nodding and shaking their fists in mock victory, “the other two said no, but the rest of us will be arriving soon, so we won’t be alone for too long, and-“
Katie cuts him off with a hand on his shoulder, pausing his rambling already. And, holy shit, she just put her hand on his shoulder and now his eyes are on her. She plasters a lovely little smile on her face, even through the red glowing high on her face, and then, quietly, she says; “Of course.”
