If We Have Each Other

Chapter Seven

Still no messages returned. After the plane lands; he goes straight to baggage claim like the rest of the passengers.

His headphones hook over his neck, Beomgyu bites the tie off his wrist and ties the hair away from his face in a small ponytail. He glances at his phone again; still, radio silent. He takes his suitcase form the platform and rolls the case on the floor as he takes his surroundings in.

He passes by gates and lines of people, some hurrying, some running, some taking their time; coffees and drinks in their hands. An announcement ring in artificial Franch, he ignores it and studies the sighs in order to understand where the exit is at.

When he passes by gate 13; his eyes catch an off-figure slouches on one of the meta benches. His squints his eyes and pulls the straps of his bag higher on his shoulders. Unable to pass by, he wonders what about the character is so off-putting to him.

Shaking one of the headphones off one of his ears, he stares and tilts his head. His feet take one more step but then he stops again and takes a second look at the guy sitting on the bench.

He gets a little closer; creeping in.

The character; a guy that can't be older than him looks around in a frightened manner. His hands are shaking in his lap. Another man who does appear way older approaches him and they talk briefly with the guy using his hands in animated gestures as he speaks.

He shrugs; looking down. He says something else and curls his arms around his body protectively.

Whether he's being a complete stalker or not; Beomgyu gets close enough that he can see the tear-tracks on the guy's face and the tremor in his hands. He wears clothes that don't fit, with an empty belt around his waist.

Not your normal belt, a strap with hole and a simple mechanism. A belt with pockets and hoops.

Strangely resembles the belt he has seen often Kai wearing when he came to their shared apartment in after a work-day.

He's never met Kang Taehyun, only heard horror stories about him that slowly morphed into something more tender and loving. He doesn't need to look much further to be certain that the guy he's observing.

Is Kang Taehyun in the flesh.

He walks to gate 13. "Hi." he makes himself known even before standing in front of his best friend's boyfriend. Four sets of eyes look at him and to his surprise, he finds a familiar face in the group. "Hyung." he meets eyes with Yeonjun.

Yeonjun's lips part. "Beomgyu," he exclaims quietly; in disbelief.

The guy, not too short off Yeonjun but a couple of inches of a difference, has honey-golden skin and long black hair down to the end of his nape. Dresses in big pants and a flannel shirt, Taehyun has no doubt that the person he's looking at is-

"Beomgyu?" Taehyun overhears and questions. "Kai's Beomgyu?" He asks in a tone that suits his tired appearance. The black eye bags under his eyes are hard to miss even is Beomgyu looked at him from a far. His glasses hide most of the damage but his slouched back, constant blinking of his puffy eyes and the way his face muscles refuse to move even for the spur moment of shock that Kai's best friend, that he has yet to meet but heard nonstop about is standing right in front of him.

He blinks very slowly and rubs his eyes.

Raising his hand friendly, Beomgyu smiles widely. "Hi," he repeats. "I'm Beomgyu," he tells Taehyun. "You already knew that," he adds. "It's good to finally see you."

Taehyun appears star-struck and baffled, even if he cannot fully express it. "D-ditto." He scratches the skin on the back of his hand. His eyes going back and forth from the board showing the time of their flight back to Seoul.