𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐳 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

Jongho | Turbulence | Fluff

You feel your hands get sweatier as the plane shakes slightly. You rub them on the thighs of your trousers to dry them off a bit, when suddenly a patch of small turbulence is hit. You close your eyes, swallowing hard and without even realising, nervously tapping your fingers on your thighs.

The man sat next to you glanced to the side and noticed you. He stays watching you for a little bit, before deciding to speak. He had both his airpods in, but takes out the one on your side.

"Excuse me...?" He says, softly. His voice was deep and smooth.

You open your eyes, surprised, and glance at him. His dark brown hair was fluffy, and just about fell over his innocent eyes. He was wearing a comfy cream hoodie, and a black puffer jacket on top.

When you make eye contact with him, he continues. "Hey, um, are you okay? You look a little stressed out."

"Oh... yeah, I'm fine! Turbulence is just a little scary haha.." You give your best fake smile, and he just continues studying your face for a second, skeptical, before giving a small nod and a little smile, and turning away to put his airpod back in.

Around five minutes pass, and luckily the plane had left the patch of small turbulence. Unluckily, however, it was now approaching an area of even stronger turbulence. The captain announced it through the speakers, and as he did you frowned. You thought you had gotten through the worst of it.

Soon enough, the plane starts to shake, but unlike earlier, it starts to make sudden drops occasionally. The fact that the flight attendants- who always looked unsettlingly calm- were also sat down in their seats during this turbulence, panicked you even more. As the first big drop happens, the man next to you again glances over at you. You were looking down into your lap, and bouncing your leg.

"...Oh my god..." You whispered a couple of times.

The man hesitated, before taking out both his airpods and putting them away in his pocket. "Why are you heading to paris?" He asks, completely out of the blue. The whole 10 hours of flight time before he hadn't spoken a word.

You slowly look up, not sure if he was talking to you, even though you were on a row of just two seats, with no one else. You see him looking down at you so casually, as if you were just friends in the middle of a normal conversation.

"I- um, I'm moving there for uni." You try to sit up a little more.

The man smiles and nods. "Ah that's cool. Starts next week right?"

You give a shy nod.

"I'm Jongho, by the way." His eyes sparkle.

"I'm Y/N... so why are y-" A bigger drop than ever interrupts your sentence. You grip onto the armrest which separated you two, and bow your head, wincing.

Jongho bit his lip in thought. "Do you want to swap seats with me? Sometimes the window seat makes you feel better, you know. Gives you at least a sense of direction."

You look back up at him and smile. That's what you wanted more than anything. "But are you sure? You-" But he had already stood up.

You stand up too, and walk out into the aisle followed by Jongho. He holds out a hand, indicating for you to go sit at the window seat. You do, and sit down, but out of the corner of your eye notice a flight attendant on the other side of the plane looking over. Oh right. The seatbelt sign was on. Jongho gives a small smile and points to our seats, indicating that we were just switching for a second. She smiles back, and carries on with what she was doing. He had such a charming smile, that he could probably get away with anything.

"So." He sits back down next to you. "What were you saying?"

"Oh just..." You try to ignore the plane's shaking. Jongho gives you an encouraging look. "Why are you going to paris?"

"I live there."

You gasp. "Really? Whoah.. that's so cool."

"Mhm. I only moved there a couple years ago though." Another violent shake of the plane hits as he's talking. But he doesn't even stutter. You don't understand how he could just act like you weren't 30,000 feet in the air in a little piece of metal which was shaking so aggressively.

"How are you so calm during this? Aren't you even scared the plane will crash??"

Jongho gives a little chuckle.

"What?" Your eyebrows crease.

"Nothing it's just... it sounds kinda dumb but- I saw this thing online once, this girl referred to the plane as like flying through jelly. Something about the pressure coming in from all sides and keeping the plane up."

You just stare at him blankly, before raising an eyebrow and laughing. "What? Jelly?" You scoff. "That's ridiculous."

He shakes his head. "Can't argue with the science." He shrugs, and you both laugh.

You both carried on talking for the rest of the plane ride, which was only around an hour. You talked about general things, like your lives and interests- and at some points you had so much fun that you forgot you were even on a piece of metal 30,000 feet in the air. Talking to Jongho just felt really fresh and calming.

As the plane landed- thankfully pretty smoothly- you and Jongho started to gather your belongings and get ready to leave. You feel his eyes on you, as if he wanted to say something.

The plane came to a complete halt, and people started to stand up.

"Hey, um, Y/N?" Jongho started.

You turn to look at him, as you reach up to the overhead cabinet for your suitcase. He doesn't hesitate to go over and help you grab it. As he does, he continues.

"Could I get your number? I mean, I know some  pretty great places in paris that i'd... love to take you to. If you'd let me." He bites his lip, awaiting your answer. It was the shyest you'd seen him be.

You smile. "Sure. Here, I'll type it in."

That was around 4 years ago now, and you still think about the jelly thing every time you fly. It somehow was comforting.

But you didn't really need to think about it anymore, because Jongho was always sat next to you, squeezing your hand tightly during turbulence. And that was all the comfort you'd ever need.