ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘
─◌✰್ 𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋𝖽
𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗱（𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻）/ˈ𝗺ə𝘀 𝘁ə𝗿𝗱/
❝𝖺 𝗉𝗎𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗇𝗍－𝗍𝖺𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗒𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝗈𝗋 𝖻𝗋𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝗉𝖺𝗌𝗍𝖾 𝗆𝖺𝖽𝖾 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗋𝗎𝗌𝗁𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝖾𝖾𝖽𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖼𝖾𝗋𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗇 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗍𝗌．❞

"Our flight isn't for another three hours???"

You stared with your mouth wide open at your brother as you stood in the airport parking lot, surrounded by dozens of buses dropping off travelers, buzzing excitedly about their upcoming trip. The smell of exhaust invaded your nostrils, but you were too distracted to notice.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure we got here early!" Hyunjin said matter-of-factly as he pulled your large pastel purple suitcase from the back of his car with one hand. "Here, make sure you don't break it or lose it."

"Even if I did, we'd have three whole hours to build a whole new one from scratch," you muttered dubiously as you popped the handle and started rolling towards the door.

"What time are Riley and Mya supposed to arrive?" Hyunjin called to you as he shut the trunk and followed you with his own suitcase in tow. "Are we meeting them at the gate, or before security?"

"They're supposed to be here in a few minutes, Mya texted that their Lyft should be here really soon."

"Why didn't they just drive together?"

"Well, Mya doesn't have her license yet and Riley hates driving in heavy traffic."

"We could have driven them!"

"They think your car's air freshener smells too strong."

"What?? They don't like the smell of lavender?"

"It smells sort of like a rich person's bathroom."

Hyunjin huffed as you both made your way to check in, got your tickets and checked in your bags, and started heading towards security. Right as you both got in line, a pair of voices sounded from behind you.

"This coffee tastes like shit!"

"I'm sure it's fine, it's not going to kill you!"

"I'm a coffee connoisseur, and I say it will."

"Riley, Mya, over here!" You called to your best friends, who were talking so loud they could be heard over the planes routinely leaving the concourse. "Stop yelling, or people are going to hit you."

"It's not my fault the coffee is so bad! What place did that Lyft guy take us to?" Riley complained, eyeing the paper cup in her hands like it might explode.

"It was Starbucks, I thought you liked that place!" Mya raised an eyebrow. "You're going to have to throw it out before we go through security anyway."

"Good riddance," Riley shot a disgusted look at the cup before tossing it into the trash to her left. "Let's get through security before I pass out from exhaustion."

"See, I told you it's way too early!" You exclaimed at Hyunjin. "It's his fault we had to meet so early, our flight isn't for another three hours!"

"You're kidding," Riley groaned, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands. "I'm starting to regret throwing that disgusting coffee away."

The four of you proceeded through security, laughing at Riley when she got stopped for a pat-down like she was some sort of criminal. Hyunjin stood by looking at his watch as if you were about to miss your flight.

Right as you made it through security, you grabbed Riley and Mya's hands. "I'm starving, we need to find food right now. Are you guys down for McDonald's breakfast?"

"Ooh, I could go for a hash brown!" Mya exclaimed eagerly.

"I'm in love with McMuffins, you know that," Riley sighed. "And maybe they'll have coffee that doesn't make me want to puke."

"I doubt that," You laughed. "But I hate all coffee so I'm not one to talk."

Without another glance back at Hyunjin who was checking the signs to see which way your gate was, the three of you skittered down the hall towards the golden arches awaiting you. Apparently food was more important than sticking together.

The three of you bustled over to the McDonald's, Riley ordering a McMuffiin and a large caramel coffee, Mya ordering two hash browns and a small McFlurry ("I'm a university graduate, I can eat whatever I want!"), and you getting your favorite, a sausage and egg biscuit with a strawberry smoothie. (Who knew McDonald's even had smoothies?? And why not try something new??)

With your food in tow, the three of you started wandering around. It was only then that you realized something.

You had no idea where your gate was. Let alone your brother, who probably did know where your gate was.

"Don't we have our boarding passes with us?" Mya asked, rummaging around in the pockets of her leggings.

"Did we get boarding passes?" Riley asked, confused. "I don't remember grabbing mine."

You groaned. "No, Hyunjin is holding them like the protective mom he is. He didn't think we could keep track of them."

"So we don't even know what gate number we're at??" Mya exclaimed, eyes wide with panic. "Are we going to miss our flight? And not get to go to Jeju?"

"God, my brother is never going to let this go," you put your free hand over your face and rubbed, trying to think of a solution. "How about this? We go and check those boards and see which gates have Jeju on them, and then we go and look at each one to see if my brother is there!"

"That could work!" Riley agreed. "But what if there's a bunch of gates?"

"We'll deal with that if it comes to it," you decided, heart hammering out of your chest. It was bad enough that you might miss your flight and your vacation, but did your brother have to be here to witness it? He would never let you go anywhere else again.

It took barely a minute to find a board with the flights listed, as they were plastered everywhere. Your eyes roamed the board as fast as you could for Jeju.

"There's only three flights!" You exclaimed, letting out a loud breath of relief. "I guess we should split up and each find one gate! It's gotta be one of them! Riley, you take 3B, Mya you take 7C and I'll take 3A! Whoever finds Hyunjin just text in the groupchat! Curse Hyunjin for being right, but thank god we have another hour!"

With that, the three of you hustled off in opposite directions towards your assigned gate, McDonald's in tow.

You tried to take bites of your biscuit as you walked, but crumbs rained down onto your chin and over your purple hoodie, so you gave up. You took small sips of your smoothie, which was surprisingly pretty good. Who would have thought? Plus, you felt kind of healthy drinking something with fruit instead of just sugar. Hyunjin always tried to make you eat more fruit and veggies, and you hated when he was right. They kind of tasted good, and made you feel good too. Curse him. You were cursing him a lot today, and for once he might not deserve it.

You were so lost in thought as you speed-walked from one side of the airport to the other, you almost missed the all-too-familiar sound of someone laughing at the cafe behind you.

Almost.

The sound was deep. Deeper than you remembered. But something about it was the same. The tone, maybe. No, it was something more. It was more like... pure, genuine joy. An emotion you'd only really paid attention to in one person. Because you'd tried to damn hard your entire life to get that laugh out of that one person, and when you did hear it, it made your entire chest feel giddy and fuzzy, like you'd just pet a puppy or eaten a s'more. Yes, his laugh sounded like eating a s'more by a warm campfire.

Felix?

laska's note —
so uhhh... sorry this is kind of a filler chapter but i didn't want to get right into the next chapter without a bit more of a setup!! besides it's fun leaving chapters on cliffhangers and the next chapter is going to be so exciting!! felix and alaska are finally officially going to meet again and i'm so ready for it. i'm having so much fun writing for this fic and i hope y'all are enjoying my writing!! let me know your thoughts in the comments!!

question of the week —
do you own any skz albums? if so which ones?

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