ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡
─◌✰್ 𝖽𝖺𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗈𝗇
𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻（𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻）/ˈ𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹ˌ𝗶̄ə𝗻,ˈ𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲̄ˌ𝗹𝗶̄ə𝗻/
❝𝖺 𝗐𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗋𝗂𝖻𝗎𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗐𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖽𝖺𝗂𝗌𝗒 𝖿𝖺𝗆𝗂𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖺 𝗋𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗍𝗍𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗐𝖾𝗋𝗌．❞

Seungmin, one of your brother's best friends, yelped at Felix as the two of you rounded the wall to come and stand with everyone. You two were the last to arrive, much to Hyunjin's chagrin.

"About time, Laska!" Your long-haired brother exclaimed, grabbing you by the wrist and tugging you over to stand with him, his cheeks flushed red. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

You hide an eyeroll before shaking your head. "Sorry Jinnie, I didn't mean to stress you out. I got a little lost on the way here, but Felix helped me find my way."

Hyunjin shakes his head in defeat. "I shouldn't have let you find your way by yourself. I knew you'd find a way to get lost."

You were about to shoot back with an indignant retort, but Felix beat you to it.

"She was doing just fine on her own, she didn't need my help."

You shot Felix a small smile, which he answered with a shrug. You wanted to feel grateful, like Felix was standing up for you for a reason other than that he thought of you as a little sister. But after the dreaded nickname calling a mere five minutes earlier, you weren't holding your breath.

The moment Felix appeared at that cafe, you're been taken back to your pre-teen feelings. When you would stare out your window at Felix and Hyunjin playing soccer in the back yard, watching Felix's then-dark hair rush in the wind behind him as he dashed around, keeping the ball from your brother. How badly you wanted to run you'd wanted to run your hands through that hair, or cheer him on from the sidelines as he played.

But that never happened.

And for years after you left for university, you convinced yourself that you didn't care. Felix was a childhood crush, nothing else. He didn't reciprocate your feelings, and you were okay with that. You had moved on.

Apparently not.

Damn that hot, lanky man with a smile that could melt any girl's heart, even girls stronger and smarter than you. Now, he donned bleach blonde hair to match that sunshine expression, and you definitely didn't hate it. If anything, your impulse to touch his hair had grown. What was wrong with you??

You shook off that stupid yearning as best you could. There was zero chance that Felix liked you, and you were way past lusting after him. You were better than that.

You nodded to both Felix and Hyunjin before making your way over to Mya and Riley, who sad next to each other in between the rest of Hyunjin's best friends.

You weren't surprised which friends Hyunjin had decided to invite on this used-to-be girl's trip. Besides Seungmin, of whom was known as the class-clown type to throw sarcastic quips at friends and foes alike, he was always a hoot. Seungmin and you had met back in high school, when Hyunjin invited him over for the first time for a school project. He'd made fun of your choice of home decor before getting back to work. At first, Hyunjin was worried that you were upset at Seungmin's sense of humor. But if anything, it made you like him even more.

Sitting next to Seungmin was Changbin and Han Jisung, of whom everyone just referred to as Han. Changbin, whose arms were as thick as your thigh, looked like an intimidating guy who you wouldn't want to cross paths with. He was anything but. Changbin's humor, paired with his cracked-out energy, lit up the room. He was one of the people who made you belly-laugh harder than you ever had before, almost to the point that you needed to use the restroom.

Han, while being introverted on the outside around those he didn't know very well, was one of the most chaotic, adorable people you knew. He was always laughing and messing around, and he was hard to reign in. He would always try and get up to shenanigans with you and your brother, and would always try to include you, even when you were an annoying kid back in middle school. That had meant a lot to you, especially when your brother and a lot of his other friends wouldn't do the same thing.

The three of them were taking olives from Han's slice of pizza and sticking them on Changbin's arm, trying to see how many would stay before they fell off. Whenever they would fall, Seungmin would try to eat them before they could all to the floor, which caused loud laughter from the three boys, along with Felix and Hyunjin standing a few feet away.

Sitting next to Riley was Christopher Bang, or Chris, or Chan... whatever you wanted to call him, really. A natural leader and huge creative, he was somehow good at everything. All due to a combination of his hard-working personality and natural talent, of course.

As you looked between Chan and Riley, you wondered if something was going on with them. Based on Riley's flushed cheeks and Chan's huge grin as he rubbed the back of his neck, they looked excited and nervous in a cute high-school way. As you took a seat next to Minho, you tried to listen in on their attempts at a conversation.

"What's that on your lock screen?" Chan asked Riley, pointing carefully at her phone. "Did you draw that?"

Riley's face reddened even more as she looked at her own phone. "Yeah, I drew it. It's just a small sketch, nothing crazy. It's a band that I like."

"I don't know who they are, but it looks incredible. I'd buy that," he replied earnestly.

"I don't know about that," Riley laughed nervously, but she was obviously pleased. After a beat, she said, "I could draw you if you'd like."

Chan's eyes widened. "Really? That would be awesome! Let's do it."

"You're definitely photogenic enough," Riley blurted, then snapped her mouth shut.

Trying not to laugh, while also feeling giddy for your friend, you peeked around to the other side of you where Jeongin and Mya sat, laughing at something on his phone.

"I can't believe you want a tiny dog and want to name it PomPom!" Mya giggled uncontrollably as she stared at the picture, then glanced up at Jeongin, who was grinning broadly down at her.

"Why not, you don't think I could handle a dog?" Jeongin joked.

"No! I bet you'd be a great dog dad! It's just you're so tall, I thought you'd want a big dog!" Mya exclaimed, her cheeks reddening.

Jeongin shrugged. "Small creatures are cute," he gazed at Mya, who, in all her shortness, ducked her head, but couldn't hide her blooming smile.

"If you get a dachshund, you have to name it something else," she finally responded, to which Jeongin just chuckled.

Just as you were starting to feel lonely, Minho, also known as Lee Know to some of his friends, glanced over at you. You weren't sure if Minho actually wanted to talk to you, or was going to laugh at you for being all alone while your friends flirted their hearts out.

Rather than waiting to find out, you decided to take matters into your own hands.

"Hi Minho, you excited to go on a trip?" You asked him. "The trip you weren't originally supposed to go on?"

If Minho was amused, he didn't let on. He was always good at that poker face around you. You'd seen him warm up to all of his other friends, but with you? It didn't seem like that was a possibility. He was always very quiet, almost cold. You assumed he didn't like you. Any smart person would give up and leave him alone. But you weren't about to do that. You wanted Minho to like you, and you weren't sure why. But you were going to keep trying. In your own way, of course.

"Are you excited to be flying again?" Was all Minho responded.

You opened your mouth to ask Minho what he meant by that. Of course you were ready for this trip. You'd been the one to plan the whole damn thing, weren't you?

Then, it felt like someone doused you in a bucket of freezing cold water filled with ice cubes. You couldn't respond to Minho for a solid minute.

With all the chaos of planning, packing, fighting with Hyunjin, booking flights, and leaving so early in the morning, you had forgotten one of the most important things about this trip. Something that had stopped you from long travel until you left in the middle of your time at university to study abroad. What had made you sob as a small child every time your family went with your father for a business trip. What caused numerous nightmares, even now.

You were completely and utterly terrified of flying.

laska's note —
i know this story is going super slow i'm sorry!! i have been struggling to find time to write recently but i will continue updating!! this fic is something i'm really invested in so don't worry about that. at least you got to meet the boys and hear a little of their backstory! next, onto the plane and to jeju!! i hope you're all excited because i definitely am.

question of the day —
fave skz music video outfit/concept and why!

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟬𝟴 - 𝗯𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗲
┊ ⇄ ◁◁ II ▷▷ ↻ ┊