ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘
─◌✰್ 𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗉𝗅𝗎𝗌𝗁𝗂𝖾𝗌

robin_is_a_penguin never related to a post more
> minniemouse- maybe u should sleep more then idiot
    > robin_is_a_penguin @minniemouse- stfu seungmin
        > changaroo97 @robin_ is_a_penguin you're just like @ryerye
            > @ryerye @changaroo97 why am i being attacked too???

matchatess girl weren't you the one forcing us to watch gilmore girls all night
> huats.up literally i fell asleep after the fifteenth episode
    > mymymy @matchatess @huats.up aww why wasn't i invited??
        > matchatess @mymymy mya u know why, this keeps happening
            > mymymy @matchatess wait never mind, i forgot where i live 😃

the.official.hwang the bags under ur eyes are cute 🤭
> sk8ter.jj stop it hj
    > ramenoodlaska @the.official.hwang yeah ewe stop it "hj" 😒 what is that nickname anyway @sk8terjj tsk

"After all that overthinking, I can't believe you forgot your neck pillow," you snickered at your friend from behind your hand.

"I'm so mad, I will be stealing yours for the entire flight," Tessa grumbled as the four of you boarded the plane.

"We're only going to be sitting for an hour," JJ pointed out. "I don't know why either of you need neck pillows to begin with."

"Some of us need beauty rest, okay JJ?" Tessa complained. "I stayed up too late reading after we watched tv last night and I'm dead."

"You can use mine if you want!" Renee offered, holding up a pale blue neck pillow with clouds printed on it. "I went to bed early in preparation for today, so I'm not actually that tired."

"You're a lifesaver," Tessa sighed, squeezing Renee's wrist. "In reward, you can have your pick of my flight snacks."

"Because of course you didn't forget any of those," you teased her, and she slapped your arm. "Ouch, what the hell Tess??"

"You're being a bully!" Tessa protested as she took the window seat.

"I am not, you're the one who forgot everything! And you were boasting about how prepared you were!" you glared, sitting across the aisle from her.

"Ugh you're crabby," Tessa sighed as she relaxed in her seat.

The plane was very small, because the flight was so short. There were only two seats on each side of the plane, so Renee sat next to Tessa and JJ sat next to you.

Renee and Tessa immediately started talking about work. Since they were sort of coworkers now, with Renee being in charge of Tessa's bookstore's finances, they had become quite close.

You chucked your white leather bag under the chair with uncharacteristic vehemence. Your body was buzzing with adrenaline, making you impatient and antsy. You wanted to move, not sit on a plane for an hour.

"You're being quite snappy today," JJ observed as she pushed her forest green carry-on under the seat in front of her. "What's that about?"

You closed your eyes, resting your head on your white neck pillow. You really were being rude, weren't you? You did tend to get travel anxiety, always wanting everything to be perfect and on-schedule. But you never took it out on your friends. What was up with you today?

But you knew what was up.

In a little over an hour, you were going to see Changbin, for the first time in almost four months. And while you'd talked to him almost every day since then, you were clearly nervous about reuniting with him in person.

"It's about him, isn't it?" JJ voiced your thoughts before you could formulate a coherent response. You barely knew how you felt.

"What if when he sees me, he realizes he doesn't like me as much as he thought he did?" you blurted.

JJ raised her eyebrows at you, unimpressed. "Seo Changbin is fucking obsessed with you, girl. There is literally nothing you could do that would make him like you any less. It's physically impossible. He thinks you're perfect."

"I know, and that's the problem!" you exclaimed. "If he thinks I'm perfect, I'm basically guaranteed to disappoint him. What if he hates the way I look when I wake up in the morning? Or he sees me with bags under my eyes, or I smell weird because we're gonna be outdoors basically all the time for the next month? He's bound to find something he hates."

"I see the way he looks at you, babe." JJ pulled out her bag of chocolate chip cookies, taking a bite out of one. "You'll see too when we get there, don't worry."

"Ooh, can I have a cookie?" Renee gazed at the bag in JJ's hand longingly. "Those look so good!"

"Sure, just keep them away from Tessa." JJ passed them over. "She'll eat them all and blame you."

"Hey, I totally would not! I'm nice!" Tessa protested from her spot by the window.

"That would be a first," JJ shot back with a smirk, and Tessa threw Renee's neck pillow at her.

You smiled over at your friends, closing your eyes. Maybe JJ was right. You had nothing to worry about when it came to Changbin and his feelings for you.

Your thoughts wandered to your time together in Jeju. Every second spent with Changbin had been filled with flirting and laughter. Everything about that man was both humorous and sexy. You hadn't thought that a man like that existed before him.

In the past, you definitely had a type. They consisted of hot, rich, cocky, boring guys. Their faces and bank accounts? A ten. Personalities? A solid one, on a good day. Men were just an accessory to you. They helped you keep up appearances at high-profile events, while they also had zero interest actually learning anything more about you than the color of your bedsheets.

But then you met Changbin, and your opinion on men flipped on it's head. He was sweet, witty, adorably dorky, and obsessed with you. Wasn't that what you'd claimed you wanted for such a long time?

And it wasn't just your love life that seemed to be suffering. Up until this week, you'd been thriving at your job, and you were honestly really proud of yourself. Until the Work Debacle that you had refused to tell anyone about.

But you wanted whatever you and Changbin had to work out. You didn't want your weird past relationships to hold you back. And in order to do that, you had to tell him about the Debacle. You couldn't hide it, even if you'd rather die than admit that you'd fucked up.

But that would have to wait until you landed.

You pushed those thoughts from your mind, as you relaxed your head on your neck pillow and tried to calm your thoughts.

——————————

The plane landed ten minutes earlier than planned, at 12:05pm. Before you could gather your thoughts, the attendants were shoving you all off the plane and towards the gate.

As the four of you stumbled down the runway to the area where guests were allowed to wait for their loved ones, carry-ons clutched in your hands, your heart began to thud uncontrollably hard. You were really about to see Changbin for the first time in months.

What if he doesn't- what if he hates- what if he- what if- what if-

You squeezed your eyes shut, slamming the door on your doomsday thoughts. You were excited for this. You had been waiting to reunite with the man who occupied your thoughts nonstop. You wanted to see him. And you just had to trust that he wanted to see you too.

As you rounded the bend, your eyes landed on a sight that made your throat tighten, and a huge smile spread across your face.

Standing behind a metal gate separating new arrivals from those waiting, stood the entire Seoul gang. They were holding signs, flowers, snacks, and plushies, and when they saw the four of you, they all started waving the signs over their heads madly, motioning you over to them.

Alaska, Riley, and Mya all held bags of snacks and candy in their hands, and they tossed the bags into Tessa's outstretched hands as she ran towards them. Robin, Minho, and Jisung all held bundles of flowers, and Renee squealed when Robin handed her a pale blue and white bouquet. Minho was staring at Tessa as she tore into her bag of sour patch kids, like he was waiting to hand her his flowers. He also had a small cow plushie squished in his arms, and he absentmindedly petted it as he not-so-subtley watched her.

Felix and Jeongin both jumped up and down with their signs, while Chan just waved his over his head, chuckling at his younger friends. Hyunjin held a bear plushie close to his chest as he waited for JJ to approach him. When she finally did, she gave him a side hug, before graciously taking the toy. Seungmin raced towards Renee, throwing his arms around her before presenting her with a white polar bear plush to go with her flowers.

But you barely paid attention to the chaos that ensued around you. Because as you turned the bend and approached the gate, you locked eyes with a certain buff brown-haired man. His arms were full with a handmade sign, a bouquet of white lilies, a blueberry smoothie, and two huge plushies, a cinnamoroll and a cat. Despite all the incredible gifts, the only thing you could stare at were his eyes, which crinkled at the edges, and his small but full lips, curved into the makings of a smirk.

And there were those damn butterflies again.

At least you knew exactly how you felt about Seo Changbin.

As you approached him, pulling your suitcase behind you and lugging your carryon over your shoulder, the butterflies increased and intensified tenfold. God, you were supposed to be the girl who played it cool, who never got flustered by anyone, let alone a man. But Changbin was different. He just did something to you.

"Hi," you said, trying to keep the breathless quality out of your voice. You let your eyes drift over the huge stash in his arms. "Is this all for me?"

The smirk dropped from Changbin's face, only to be replaced with the biggest grin in the world. "Of course it's all for you, Hua," he said, before dropping it all on the ground and and pulling you into a bone-snapping hug.

Without thinking, you dropped the handle of your suitcase and hugged him back, letting his scent - oh, how you had missed it - of smoky cedarwood and sparkling citrus - envelope you entirely. You took a deep breath, and his grip tightened around you.

Your heartbeat, which up until a few seconds ago had been panging uncomfortably against your lungs, slowed instantly at his touch. Before this moment, you hadn't realized just how much you'd craved his touch, his presence. He'd left more of an impression on your body - and heart - than you could have predicted. He felt like home.

You were down bad.

When you finally let go of him, blushing and giddy, you scrambled to pick up the flowers and other gifts that had fallen to the floor. You hugged the cinnamoroll plushie to your chest, trying to keep him from seeing your blotchy, pink face.

The entire group convened in a circle, the four Jeju girls holding all their gifts. Seungmin and Hyunjin had volunteered to take Renee and JJ's bags, while Tessa had forced some of her stuff on Minho. The rest went with Chan, who had graciously offered.

"I can't believe you did all this, just for us," you said, unable to keep the dorky grin from spreading across your face. "Literally, it means so much."

"Hey, don't blame us," Minho complained, shaking his head at the cow plushies and flowers in his arms. "I didn't ask to do this."

"I learned that certain flowers make me sneeze," Jisung agreed. "And a bee flew at me, and Robin and I had to run away."

"Really, it wasn't our idea," Alaska said with a little grin.

"It was all Bin!" Mya said, hiding a giggle behind her hand.

"We just went with him to get the snacks, because he promised to get us stuff too!" Riley nodded.

You wheeled around to face Changbin, who was now trying to hide behind your white duffel bag.

"You did all this??" you exclaimed incredulously. "Why didn't you tell me??"

"Well, I didn't want to take all the credit," he said, voice muffled by the bag. "Everyone helped, like they said, I only took the girls to get snacks."

You suddenly had the urge to reach over and kiss him on the cheek. Since when had anyone done something so thoughtful for you, and only you? Thinking back, you couldn't recall any time. The fact that Changbin had thought of you and decided to do something so special meant more than you could express, especially with all your friends around.

All you could do, since your arms were full, was gaze at him like some lovesick puppy. "Thank you, Bin," you said, hoping that you conveyed exactly how you felt.

His head sunk even further behind your bag, but you could see from the top of his forehead that he was all red. "You're welcome, Hua," he mumbled.

You made the mistake of looking away from Changbin and made eye contact with Seungmin, whose smirk filled his entire face. You rolled your eyes. Clearly, it was a better idea to just stare at the floor.

Your entire group exited the airport, Changbin walking both Junjie and Jiao after you went to pick them up. You couldn't help but ogle his biceps as they flexed.

"We've already decided on car assignments, sorry we didn't ask you," Alaska said apologetically. "But I assumed some of y'all wouldnt wanna drive with me, since Bin says I'm a bad driver."

Alaska, Changbin, and Minho had driven their cars, so they would each take a group with them.

"She's never gotten in an accident!" Felix exclaimed defensively, sneaking an arm around her waist. "But I do have to close my eyes sometimes."

"Oh shut up," Alaska nudged her boyfriend in the side, a resigned grin spreading across her face. "C'mon gang, let's go!" she called, and Felix, Mya, Riley, and Jeongin followed her.

"I picked Minho for me and Ren, since he's probably the only good driver here," Seungmin said, dodging Changbin's fist as he pretended to hit him.

"That's very nice of you," Renee agreed, beaming up at Seungmin.

Minho motioned to Seungmin, Hyunjin, Jisung, Chan, and Renee. "C'mon losers, let's go."

"Everyone has directions to the campsite, right?" you called after them. Alaska and Minho waved their phones in the air, with the directions on the screen.

That just left you, JJ, Tessa, Robin, and the dogs in Changbin's car.

"Why didn't you go with Jisung in Minho's car?" Tessa asked Robin curiously. "Haven't you two been inseparable for the past four months?"

Robin shrugged. "I wanted to hang out with my girls! I haven't seen you guys in so long, we have to catch up."

"You're so right, I want to hear everything about your relationship," Tessa declared.

"And I want to know why Minho refuses to talk about you," Robin smirked, and Tessa groaned.

As Changbin started the car, Junjie and Jiao sitting comfortably on your and Tessa's laps, he started to play some music.

"Can we listen to 5sos??" Robin exclaimed eagerly, reaching for the aux cord.

Changbin rolled his eyes, but didn't stop her. "Whatever, just don't play it too loud. I have to drive, you know."

"Ooh, then can we listen to some Dua Lipa? I love her!" Tessa cried, throwing her phone at Robin, who yelped.

The three girls started yelling out song recommendations to each other, fighting over the aux cord.

You glanced over at Changbin, who was gazing straight ahead at the road. Damn, he looked good sitting in the driver's seat, his arms on full display in his dark blue t-shirt.

You casually reached over, and placed your hand on his right thigh. His eyes flicked down for a fraction of a second, and he grinned.

"Thank you, Bin," you said so quietly, he might not have heard you over the blaring pop music.

"For what?" he said, an amused smile still playing on his lips.

"For everything."

laska's note —
this chapter was one of my faves so far, i just love changhua so much they're so cute together 😭 all of our babies have reunited, finally!! everyone just fits together so well, idk how to explain, they're all so great 🥰 now, the camping trip is officially beginning! but don't worry, there's still so much more drama and craziness to come! what are you hoping will happen? what fall silliness are you waiting for? let me know in the comments! 🤪

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟬𝟲 - 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀
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