cold | junhao

二十七

Minghao's eyes are glued to the television screen, hands preoccupied with three cats curled up on his lap when the sofa suddenly sinks beside him. His eyes drift away from the screen.

Jun watches him with a glint in his eyes and flushed cheeks, finally tearing Minghao's focus away from the program he was watching. "What's this?" he asks, reaching his hand up to cup Jun's face in his palm. "Why do you look so excited?"

He smiles widely at the small bounce Jun does in his seat, pushing an envelope into Minghao's hands. "It's a carnival," he says. "Yeji invited the three of us to go with her, but she had a spare ticket, so she's wondering if you want to come with us?"

"A carnival?" Minghao gapes. "Where?"

"Somewhere in Europe—I can't remember where exactly. And I already checked, none of the staff will be there." He grins, gripping Minghao's hand tightly. "And it will also be really hot, so you won't have to worry about the weather."

Of course, Minghao agrees almost without hesitation. His eyes light up and he nods eagerly, leaving Jun to clap his hands in excitement. "I looked up the carnival and it looks so fun, this is going to be great!" He continues to babble about things he found out while Minghao attempts to pay attention. But the man is rambling so quickly it proves impossible and so Minghao—trying his hardest to not seem too rude—quickly shuts Jun up with a kiss.

Jun easily catches his meaning and grins. "Sorry," he says.

But Minghao only shakes his head in dismissal. "When do we leave?"

"The day after tomorrow."

The moment Jun spots Yuqi frantically waving to them over the airport's carpark, with a groggy looking Renjun and indifferent Yeji behind her, Jun immediately grabs Minghao by the wrist and tugs him forward, swerving to avoid cars and taxis as he closes the distance between them. Minghao starts laughing at his eagerness, although it stops abruptly when a taxi blares its horn at the pair and the driver leans out of the window, shouting and waggling his pointer finger in their direction. They both stop, stare at each other with wide eyes, before Jun can't hold in a laugh and carries on.

Eventually they reach the trio waiting for them, somehow ending up unscathed. Minghao lugs the small suitcase behind him, both of them sharing it as they each only needed enough for a three day trip. Although as they pass through the large glass doors, Jun takes it from him, instead offering Minghao the much smaller bag carrying a few things to occupy them on the 12 hour flight.

As they make their way through the crowded airport, Minghao notices Jun's hand start to clam up and he feels the heat hitting his own. He glances over to see his jaw clenched and eyes staring straight forward. He pulls Jun to slow down, letting the other three drift ahead.

"Hey," he tugs on Jun's hand, drawing his attention. "What's up?"

Jun denies anything is wrong, but the forcefulness is obvious. 

Minghao thinks for a few seconds. "Is it the crowds in the airport?" Jun shakes his head.

"Then..." he purses his lips, "Something about the plane journey?" Slowly, Jun nods his head. "What about it?" It takes Jun a while to open his mouth, and he only does so once he sees how close they are to boarding the plane, and he forces himself to speak.

"Crowds... strangers, as it always is. And we won't be anywhere near each other... The flight's twelve hours, Hao," his voice drops to barely a whisper towards the end, and Minghao's heart pounds at the truly desperate expression on his face. Without a second thought, Minghao tightens his grip on Jun's hand and speeds up, approaching Jun's friends with a confidence he didn't know he had. 

He taps Yeji on the shoulder and thinks very carefully in his head about what he's about to say, determined to say what he actually means, not some simplified version that isn't convincing enough. 

"Hey, can I look at the tickets you bought? Sorry, just-" 

Apparently he didn't even need to worry that much, because Yeji rolls her eyes. "You wanted to sit together?" He sheepishly nods his head. Yeji looks at him apologetically, "Sorry, Minghao. There weren't any doubles left when I booked, but," she flicks through the tickets and hands him two. "These two are the closest I could get, here you go." 

Minghao takes the paper from her and sighs. It'll have to do. He falls back in line with Jun, their hands continuing to swing between them. "You'll be fine, yeah?" He runs his hand through the hair at the nape of Jun's neck and kisses his temple fiercely. "I'll still be right there. We'll land before you know it." Jun nods, although he still seems doubtful. Minghao can't blame him—he's not sure he believes what he said either.

They only let go of each other's hands when they're inside the plane, and Jun starts to hang back but shakes his head to himself. This is stupid, he tells himself, and propels his feet forward in a haste to find his seat and hopefully fall asleep. Glancing at his ticket, he finds his seat and sighs. At least it's a window seat, so he's not surrounded by people on every side.

He sits down, wrapping his jacket further around his body in some effort to find comfort. If he'd've realised this morning it'd be like this, he would've worn a much softer, warmer coat—even if that meant baking half to death.

"Sorry sir, could we swap seats? I'd really like to sit by the window."

It takes Jun a few seconds the comprehend that the woman is talking to him. He looks up at her, a kind-looking middle aged lady and offers her a smile. "Sorry?"

She slides further into the trio of seats, sitting down in the one next to Jun. Subconsciously, he attempts to back away, only for his mind to turn into a frenzy when he realises he can't. She explains to Jun how their seats are next to each other, but because of her nausea she feels better sitting beside the window. 

In another world, Jun wouldn't even hesitate to say yes; of course, he'd let an older adult switch seats with him. But right now, he stumbles over his words, trying to say anything. He doesn't know what exactly, because he really doesn't want to say yes, but what else can he do?

Minghao watches Jun wander off to find his seat, making sure he sits down before searching for his own. Yeji said they had the two seats closest together, but when he finds it, all Minghao can do it groan. I'm two rows behind him.

He delays sitting down, pretending to be playing with his jacket zip as if he can't take it off, when he overhears something happening in front of him. Minghao's gaze immediately float to Jun, where he sees a woman talking to him, asking him to swap seats. 

"I'd really like to sit by the window..."

Within milliseconds, Minghao pushes past the other passengers already sitting in his row, mumbling hurried apologies as he goes and rushes over to the woman and Jun.

Jun's eyes widen as Minghao walks over. "Excuse me, Miss?" he says in an overly polite tone. She turns to him. "You can swap with me, if you'd like. My seat's by the window over there." He points to his seat further back, which is indeed right next to the window. He offers her a hopeful smile and a slight bow of his head. She glances between the two of them and finally complies, thanking Minghao profusely and leaving the them be.

As soon as Minghao collapses beside Jun, Jun's head flops to his shoulder. "You're a fucking lifesaver."

Minghao chuckles. "I wasn't going to leave you to deal with that on your own, was I?" After a brief check of their surroundings, he presses his lips to the crown of Jun's head. "You okay?"

With a tiny laugh, Jun leans back in his chair, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"This is why I always pay the extra for first class."