flower boy | seungjin

29

"I'm finished, thank fuck!"

Seungmin collapses into the booth at Days Gone By, with Jae following close behind him. Having arrived a few minutes earlier, Hyunjin watches them with amusement, lips wrapped around a straw as he sips his milkshake that he definitely shouldn't be drinking.

Jae frowns and points a finger at it. "Are you lactose intolerant?"

"How did your project go?" Hyunjin asks, not sparing the eldest of the three a glance until he can't help but grin and look up. Jae rolls his eyes while Seungmin leans forward.

"We got an A," he says smugly, reaching his hand out for Jae to slap in return. Hyunjin claps them both, finding himself smiling with them and unable to stop. "And now we have two months of freedom!"

Jae jumps back to his feet. "Food on the house to celebrate, but only..." He turns to his two companions, "If you promise not to order half the entire menu like you did last time." The two accused sneak a glance at each other before laughing and giving Jae their requests for food - which Jae still notes is sizeably bigger than normal, but he lets it slide and runs through the kitchen door with his shoes squeaking as he goes.

Soon enough, the small table is covered in a blanket of delicious looking food that the three ravenous teenagers are eager to devour.

"This is the last time we can do this for a while," Jae suddenly reminds them. "You're both leaving me." The table falls quiet for a second. "What time are you leaving?"

Seungmin puts his fork down. "Midnight tonight." Jae nods, eyes trained on his food. "It'll be good though, Jae. We can call every night if you want to, and-"

Jae lets out a laugh, "You're making me sound like some whiny kid who's parents are going away without him! Stop it." He picks up a chip and stuffs it in his mouth. "I was mostly joking, you know. Don't get me wrong, I'll be waiting for you to get back, but Younghyun and I have plans too."

Hyunjin whistles, "You going on a date with your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfr-" The two raised eyebrows and disbelieving stares cut Jae off. "Okay maybe he is my boyfriend."

Seungmin rolls his eyes, "See? I knew it! I knew he'd keep it from us!"

Agreeing, Hyunjin picks up his knife from the table, "Surely! This dude expects us to tell him everything but fails to mention he finally kissed the dude he's been pining after for months!"

Jae's jaw drops and he instantly starts to protest. "It wasn't months! And I wasn't pining!"

Hyunjin looks at him with a deadened gaze. "It was months."

"And you were pining," Seungmin confirms. "Hyunjin, put the knife down." With a laugh he drops it, and suddenly everything is normal again, like this isn't their goodbye and they'll do this tomorrow, like two of them aren't about to travel half way across the world for the rest of summer.

The idea of liminal spaces has always been one that intrigued Hyunjin. The way that some places can feel so unreal - and it's purely because they're never truly a destination, only a means to get to it. Surrounded by the towering walls of clear windows in the airport, waiting for their flight to be called as the sky is just a looming presence of shadows outside, Hyunjin's mind feels half way between here and there, neither awake nor asleep.

"You got everything?" Jae asks them for the millionth time.

Seungmin and Hyunjin both nod in unison, jolting slightly at the buzz of the intercom, where a female's voice rings through, announcing that their flight is about to start boarding. A shiver runs down Hyunjin's spine.

"Text us when you get there, please," Younghyun implores them, with Jae nodding furiously on the sidelines, chirping in with some baseless threat that does nothing but bring a grin to the two youngers' faces.

"We promise," Hyunjin says.

The last goodbyes and hugs are anything but feeble, with iron-grips - from Jae especially - that clutch at the two boys with such vigour that Seungmin ends up slapping his shoulder multiple times before he lets go, when they realise that the watch on Seungmin's wrist has been beeping angrily for a while, but was muffled by the thick clothes and hustling people.

"Sorry," Jae scratches his head. "It's gonna be weird... I've hung out with you every day for the past year and now suddenly I won't be able to."

Seungmin scoffs, "You're acting like I'm moving away forever. It's just a couple of months - we'll be back before the next term starts."

"And you-" Jae spins on Hyunjin, poking him lightly in the shoulder, "-you better take good fucking care of him."

Hyunjin wraps his arms around Jae once more. "You know I will, idiot."

The lady speaks again, once more warning that the plane is boarding and preparing to leave. Younghyun pushes them away - otherwise he knows they'll never leave and will miss their flight - and he and his boyfriend lean into each other to watch their friends walk away, each carrying a bag over their shoulder.

They throw one last glance over their shoulder just before they leave to board the plane, Seungmin stretches his arm out in a final wave goodbye, but he doesn't stick around long enough to see any response.

Thankfully, Seungmin and Hyunjin find seats beside each other. Seungmin slides in next to the window, where the view is minimal; there's only a few flickering city lights in the distance, along with dimly lit posts lighting up the huge flat land around them.

"How long's the flight?" he asks.

"14 hours." Hyunjin's body is racked with a yawn at that moment, which he follows up by asking, "Do you want to watch a film?"

So that's what they do, once the plane has taken off and they've left New York far behind them. Although, just before the second film ends, Seungmin takes a peek over at his companion, only to find him passed out and fast asleep.

Eyes closed, lips parted slightly, and a faint smile on his lips. The youngest watches him for a while - how his facial expression is soft and peaceful - something Seungmin doesn't see too much on Hyunjin. He sighs contentedly, but when he shuffles Seungmin notices the twinge of pain as he moves his neck.

Slowly, Seungmin sighs and tugs Hyunjin's blanket further over his body, gently readjusting his head so it's resting on his shoulder - which is hopefully slightly more comfortable that sat upright as they both stupidly forgot travel pillows.

Hyunjin doesn't wake up, but Seungmin feels him relax against his shoulder and smiles, eventually dropping his own head to brush against Hyunjin's. He soon falls asleep too, with the low drone of the plane engine drowning out everything else around them.

——
a/n: I feel like this entire chapter is a liminal space.