airport woes.
exo/sm the ballad/sm??? | jiyeol (jino/chanyeol) | 1.8k words jino’s returning from his year study abroad in japan and chanyeol’s there to greet him.
a/n: clears throat, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIA ( babyjino ) HERE’S YOUR FIC THAT I OWED YOU LIKE TWO YEARS AGO??? A YEAR AGO?? im terrible okay, im sorry. i love you enough to finish this masterpiece tho. hope you have a good birthday!!
A year, it’s been a year since Chanyeol had last seen him. He smiles at the passing buildings, wondering how he looks now and if there had been any changes to him. A year, one long year with Cho Jio in his life. He’s excited, jubilant, and all sorts of happy. Sure they’ve had video calls over Skype, but it isn’t the same as seeing the real person in the flesh. Jino had gone on an exchange program to Japan in Tokyo, wanting to have a change in scenery and to further advance in his studies, leaving Chanyeol back in Seoul, sulking and wondering when he’ll return.
A year without Jino and he’s gone crazy.
He wants to wrap his long, gangly arms around the small, petite man. He wants to shower him in kisses. He wants to spoil the other and tell him how much he misses him. Hell, he might even do all that at the airport the moment he steps out of the gate. Fuck the social norms, who cares if people scrutinize them, they’re happy and in love and that’s all that matters.
He bounces in his seat, slightly rocking the car and Baekhyun shoots him a glare. Chanyeol beams at him in return, giggling and squirms in his seat. “I’m going to see Jino again~” he sings, poking the man’s cheek. “Baek, I’m going to see him soon!”
Baekhyun swats the hand away and scowls. “I know, we all know, the whole world knows! You’ve been going on and on about this for a week now. Do me a favor and shut up, please?”
Chanyeol pouts, leaning away from Baekhyun and back into his seat. He lets a sigh, “Baek, is this how you felt with Minseok-hyung went on that one thing to Beijing?”
“No,” he deadpans. “No, it isn’t.”
Minseok laughs. “Are you sure? You seemed pretty jealous of Lu Han.”
“That was one comment! One comment!” Baekhyun huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, “Okay, yes, yes I did feel that way, happy? At least I kept in contact with Seok, unlike you.”
“I did too! We sent each other Kakao Talk messages.”
He snorts. “Barely, no phone calls, no Skype calls, no video chats—“
“You know the internet there is bad!”
“So was Beijing,” he snaps back. “Quality was shit, but me and Minseok still called each other every day over Skype.”
“Jino’s just—“ Chanyeol hesitates, trying to come up with an excuse. “Jino’s just shy! That’s all!”
Baekhyun scowls, raising am arm to hit the taller man. A voice calls out at him before he can do anything it sounds irritated and ready to kill. Minseok places a reassuring hand on the man’s arm, turning to Baekhyun and mouths at him to stop. “I’m trying to drive, can you guys keep it down?”
“Sorry, hyung.”
“Yeah, sorry Joonmyun-hyung.”
“It’s fine, just—“ He heaves another sigh and Minseok continues to pet his arm sympathetically. “Don’t be too loud, please? And thank you, Minseok.”
“No problem.”
“I want Minseok to rub my arm like that,” Baekhyun mumbles.
“I’ll rub your arm for you, Baek—“ Chanyeol reaches for Baekhyun’s arm only to get his arm swatted away by the man.
Chanyeol pouts. “Get the fuck away from me.”
“Okay.”
--
Once they’re at the airport, Chanyeol slides the van’s door open and rushes out with a large poster board (decorated like when those cute fangirls cheer for their idols), screaming out Jino’s name. Baekhyun groans out in frustration while Joonmyun and Minseok look at him with an amused expression. They knew Chanyeol had missed the boy, but not to this extent that he made a poster with Christmas lights and with Jino’s name written in neon letters.
Baekhyun and Minseok exit the van, leaving Joonmyun to find space to park the car.
“You’re not going to get lost, are you?” Minseok asks.
Joonmyun shakes his head. “Of course not!”
Minseok gives him a wary look before closing the door and yelling, “Be safe!” as Joonmyun drives up into the parking garage. He’s not going to find parking space without leaving with battle scars. He turns to Baekhyun, who’s looking down at his nails in disinterest. “Do you think he’ll make it out fine?”
“He’ll be fine,” Baekhyun snorts. He grabs Minseok’s arm and pulls him into the airport. “Come on, we won’t catch up to the idiot if we continue to stand here.”
“I- okay,” he manages to say, looking down at the floor. “I’m just worried, y’know.”
Baekhyun stops, pursing his lips. “You know what, we’re going to have a mini-date at Starbucks,” he flashes a smile at his boyfriend, “’kay?”
Minseok blinks and nods, “okay?”
“Good.”
--
They find Chanyeol in front of the gate waving his sign around. It’s a ridiculous sight, but what could they do about it? He’s tall, lanky, awkward and loud, he stuck out like a sore thumb. If that didn’t catch the attention of others, what would? Baekhyun approaches him, iced americano in one hand and the other hand holding Minseok’s.
“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun calls out, “sit your ass down, why don’t you?”
Chanyeol doesn’t reply, he continues waving the poster around, catching the eyes of those walking by. Baekhyun huffs, handing Minseok his iced americano and stomps to the man, dragging him away from the gate and towards the seats and pushes him to sit down. “Chill out won’t you? Jino’s going to notice you regardless because of your ridiculous height and loud voice.”
Chanyeol pouts, “but I want to be the first thing he sees.”
He heaves a sigh, “I know you do, but moderation. Jino would like that, wouldn’t he?”
“N-no, but I just want to!”
Minseok approaches the two, handing Baekhyun back his drink. “Let Chanyeol do what he wants to do, Baek.” He smiles at his boyfriend and Baekhyun can’t help but to sigh once more.
“Fine, just this once, Park Chanyeol.”
The man lets out a cheer and he jumps up, poster in hand and runs towards the gate. “Jino!” he screams. Baekhyun shakes his head and Minseok merely chuckles. Chanyeol continues to wave the poster around and Joonmyun finally appears, tired and breathing heavily.
“D-did… I… miss… Jino?” Joonmyun manages to ask in between his panting. “Parking… was terrible and… I got lost…” He explains when Baekhyun looks at him with wary eyes.
“You haven’t,” Baekhyun replies, taking a sip of his drink, “however you missed out on your mini date.”
He blinks. “Mini… date?”
Minseok nods and Baekhyun shrugs, “yeah, me and Minseok went to Starbucks without you.”
He blinks more. “But I was parking a car—“
Baekhyun cuts him off with a scoff, “I don’t give a shit.” He points at Chanyeol, “I had to control him.”
“You barely did anything, Baek,” Minseok says.
“Sh-shut up.”
“JINO!”
Their conversation is cut short and they head turns towards Chanyeol. The poster is on the floor abandoned and Chanyeol is clinging onto a figure for his dear life (practically suffocating the poor, poor man). The situation is barely processed until Minseok speaks up, calling out Jino’s name and running towards the couple. Soon enough Baekhyun and Joonmyun follows at their own pace.
“Ohmygosh, I missed you so much!” Chanyeol practically squeals. He releases his hold on the boy and grabs his shoulders, looking at his face. “You haven’t changed a bit, except maybe the puberty fairies came and sprinkled some puberty dust on you—“ The glare he receives from his boyfriend shuts him up and he releases his tight grip. “Sorry,” stumbles out of his mouth and he looks to the floor.
“Puberty fairy,” Jino deadpans. “Are you kidding me?”
Chanyeol shakes his head. God he missed this sarcasm, god he missed the sound of his voice, god, he missed Jino. He leans in and presses a kiss against his lips before leaning back and grinning at his boyfriend. “I missed you, you know that, right?”
Jino flushes red and he tucks his chin to his chest. “Yeah,” he quietly replies. “Yeah I know. I missed you too… Japan was lonely… and I didn’t… get to see or hear you.”
The smile on Chanyeol’s face brightens. “Really?” He nuzzles his nose against Jino’s, laughing and smiling brightly. “Really? That makes me happy! I’m so happy.”
“Yeah,” he mumbles quietly, looking up at Chanyeol timidly. “I’m glad.”
“Hey lovebirds, let us greet Jino too!” Their intimate moment is broken much to Chanyeol’s displeasure. He looks at Baekhyun, who’s tapping his foot, Minseok and Joonmyun, and frowns. He just wanted a few more minutes with Jino, or… thirty… but they don’t have to know!
“Hey, Jino,” Minseok greets with a small wave.
“Jino! You’ve grown!”
“How do you live with him?”
Chanyeol huffs and stands between the trio and Jino. “Hey, hey, guys one at a time.”
“Chanyeol,” Jino eyes his boyfriend and crosses him arm. “They haven’t seen me in a while either, stop being a piss baby and let me see them.”
Chanyeol pouts and whines, “but Jinooooo.”
“I’ll cancel our plans.”
“You can’t do that!” he exclaims, flailing his arms. “We just reunited and—and, you can’t just cancel on our cuddle date! We were going to cuddle and watch cheesy dramas!”
“You know fully well that I can and I can hang out with Minseokie-hyung instead.”
Chanyeol gasps, “You wouldn’t.”
Jino nods, “I would.”
“I—“ He bites his lip and looks at Jino before glancing at the three (Baekhyun obviously annoyed while Minseok and Joonmyun look amused more than anything, god bless their patient souls). Hesitation clings onto him and he sighs. “Fine.”
He steps away and allows Minseok to grab Jino’s face and poke at his cheek, tummy, asking if he’s been eating well and other (extremely personal) questions. Joonmyun does the same and Baekhyun merely hugs the boy. Chanyeol picks up his poster with a discarded expression, still pouting and obviously sulking. He shouldn’t have brought the three along, but who else would take him?
Suddenly there’s arms wrapped around his waist and he cranes his neck to see Jino’s face buried in his back. “Jino?” he questions. “I’m not that upset.”
“You’re a liar,” Jino replies, voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt. “You’re a big liar.”
“Jino?’
“You’re obviously upset… so,” he lifts his face up, “don’t lie.”
Chanyeol breaks out into a smile. “Okay.”
“Okay, okay—it’s time for us to head home,” Joonmyun exclaims, clapping his hands together. “Jino, you have all your stuff, right?”
Jino hesitantly lets go of Chanyeol and nods, pointing at the cart he had pushed out. “I hope your van has enough space, I brought a lot of souvenirs back home.”
Joonmyun hums. “Pretty sure we did, Chanyeol made sure we did.”
“Good, because I bought Kyungsoo the entire, full set of Prince of Tennis and it better fit.”
“What?”
