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Hoseok’s excitement couldn’t be contained for much longer as he watched the display board with fervor counting down the time until his partner’s plane touched down. Yoongi was returning home at last. He had been away for months on a trip to New Zealand and Hoseok missed every second he was away. Talking over the phone and video chatting was no longer enough for him. He even got up extra early to reach the airport in time, wanting to make sure he was there to greet him.
With much time on his hands, Hoseok decided to grab a few snacks. He had forgotten to eat in his rush to get here, “I knew I should have brought those chips with me,” he whispered staring at the costly snacks in the airport. While he would have waited to go somewhere else, his stomach grumbled in rebellion. He couldn’t go another hour without eating and got a few things. After which his phone rang.
“Joon?” Hoseok answered the phone. “Are you guys here yet?”
“No, I’m on my way with Taehyung and Jungkook. We’ll get there in another ten minutes or so. Jin and Jimin said they would come a bit later,” he told him.
Hoseok looked up at the display board to catch the time to see if there were any changes in the flight’s ETA, “There’s still an hour left before the plane is meant to arrive, so you all have time, I’m just happy I can see Yoongi again.”
“I can tell,” Joon chuckled. “We’ll join you soon so keep holding tight until we get there.”
“See you all soon.” Hoseok hung up the phone returning to his seat when he noticed the sudden change on the board.
Yoongi’s flight was now delayed without an estimated time of arrival. He began to get nervous and tried to see if he could call him, but there was no response. He then tried to send a text, hoping he’d see it, and message him back. But still, there was nothing. That’s when a couple of officials came out, they asked for those waiting for flight 349, the flight Yoongi was supposed to be on, to follow them. Hoseok froze for a minute. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.
Hoseok got up and followed the officials. Looking around him, others were also there to pick up their friends or family, all headed to the same place. Brought to a large conference room, the tension grew as they were asked to stay put while they got everything up to date. They waited in that room for hours and Hoseok was getting antsy. At that time, Namjoon and the others came into the room. They had gone up to the info desk to try and find out where the flight would be landing and look for him then were brought here to wait with the others.
Hoseok hugged Namjoon glad he and the others were there with him now. He wasn’t sure he could handle whatever was happening alone, “They haven’t told us anything yet, and we’re supposed to wait until they know everything.”
“It’ll be okay,” Namjoon comforted him. “And we’re in this together.”
The four of them sat down, trying to be positive about the situation, but all of them were mentally preparing themselves for the worse. Soon the airport manager came in, the look in his eyes held sympathy as he started with an apology, but that wouldn’t be enough to cushion the news to anyone sitting there. The world seemed to grow dark as they were all told that the flight that their loved ones were on had crashed while crossing the East China Sea, an investigation was taking place to understand just why the plane crashed.
The pilot at least tried to make it to land before crashing but fell short of reaching the coast. There was no word of any survivors at this time, but they were doing everything they could at this time. They would have to wait to even know if their loved ones survived.
Hoseok sat frozen in place hearing the news being broken to them. The plane Yoongi was on crashed. An unsettling fear crept into his chest, he didn’t notice Taehyung was holding him. Everything seemed to go black around him, he didn’t know where he was anymore. All he could think about was Yoongi being in that crash and not making it. This couldn’t be happening, it had to be a nightmare that he had yet to wake up from. Just moments ago, he had been excited about his return and now all of a sudden, he may never see him again.
“Taehyung, look after him. I’m going to step outside to call Jin and Jimin…see if they heard the news yet,” Namjoon said to them. “Jungkook can I trust you to keep an ear out and message me if anything else comes out?”
“I’ll make sure to keep an ear out,” Jungkook assured.
Taehyung kept trying to comfort Hoseok, though he wasn’t sure how to stay optimistic in this. He was scared too, he was sure they all were, but they had to stay composed, “He’s not really gone now is he?”
“People have survived plane crashes before, we don’t know if he’s gone just yet,” Jungkook said to them. He stayed close to the two, huddled together, none of them were ready to mourn the loss of a friend.
“They’re getting people out of the water!” Someone shouted within the room, holding up a phone. There was a live video of a team going out into the waters. Survivors were being pulled up into a boat. People began to move and gather around wanting to know more about what was happening, how many survived, and most of all if their loved ones survived. One of the officials had to come back in to calm everyone down. They had no names of the survivors just yet, but the passengers that weren’t in critical condition would be sent to Jeju international to be looked over by medical staff, while those that required immediate medical attention would be taken to the hospital.
Soon after a while, a few of those waiting would start receiving calls. Receiving word from their loved ones that they were all right. One. Two. Three. That Jungkook had counted had someone calling them. Those people would head out of the conference room. The three hoped for a call from Yoongi, but there was nothing. But it became even more apparent just how many people were lost in the crash. News had already spread due to live video feeds and reporters. The news stations claimed at least 7 survivors with four in critical condition still waiting to be identified.
Taehyung squeezed Hoseok’s hand. He wanted to tell him that Yoongi was one of those in the hospital, that he’d receive treatment and get better, but that wasn’t something that he could guarantee. If he promised Hoseok that Yoongi was okay and he was gone, it would just end up breaking his heart even more. He just hoped that they got some kind of call.
“Please don’t let him die,” Hoseok whispered. It was the only thing he could get out. A helpless plea to whatever higher power would listen. Just a call, or hear his voice.
“I think we should take him home,” Taehyung suggested, seeing Hoseok in such a state of despair unnerved him. He was worried for his friend, knowing how much he loved Yoongi. This had to be painful for him in particular.
Jungkook seemed to agree with that idea, “Be safe going back, I’ll make sure to notify the others.”
Taehyung got up and helped Hoseok to his feet, escorting him out of the room and leaving the airport. He drove Hosoek to his place. He stayed by his side the entire time until Hoseok finally fell asleep. Jimin then came by with food for them to eat. It was only then Taehyung realized it was already dark outside, “Any word from Yoongi?”
Jimin shook his head, his eyes were red and puffy from crying. “There’s nothing from him. According to Jungkook one of the survivors in critical condition passed…they are currently identifying the person. The others, their status is still unknown.”
“We…” Taehyung found it hard to speak. “I don’t know what we’ll do if we lose Yoongi. Hoseok’s been out of it. He’s not okay.”
“All we can do is hope for now. If anything happens if Yoongi is…” Jimin couldn’t utter the words. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. How is he?"
Jimin was also worried about Hoseok, he heard from Jungkook that he just shut down. He was concerned after learning that people could die of a broken heart. The stress of losing Yoongi may be too much for his friend and Jimin didn't want to lose them both.
"He finally went to sleep," Taehyung told him. "I've been checking in on him now and then to make sure he's fine. I don't know what we're going to do when he wakes up."
"As long as we're here for him, Hoseok will get through this. We'll help him the best that we can," Jimin assured.
The rest of the night was a long one. Of all the survivors that made it through, Yoongi wasn't one of them and so they could only assume that he was a victim of the crash. They weren't sure how to break the news to Hoseok the next morning, but it turned out that they didn't have to.
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Yoongi made it back home. He wondered just how upset Hoseok would be with him for not calling him. He had messed up with making sure to charge his phone. He hoped that the others would understand it. Opening the door to his home he was surprised to see everyone gathered. Hoseok with his head down Taehyung holding his hand as if he was delivering some bad news. They all looked tired and as if they had been crying, "Did something happen?"
The six of them turned to look at him, all of them shocked as if they were looking at a ghost.
"Yoongi..." Hoseok called out his name, tears welling up in his eyes as he got up from his seat and ran into him, holding him tight. Yoongi was confused as to what was going on, but finding his Hoseok like this made him protective as he squeezed the him in a tight hug. He had never seen him so hysterical. But when Namjoon explained about the crash and how they couldn’t contact him and assumed he died with the others, he began to understand now just why, “I’m so sorry, you must have been so scared.” Yoongi did his best to soothe Hoseok who for now was just relieved that Yoongi wasn’t dead. He didn’t want to let go of him, fearing if he did, Yoongi would disappear again.
The others however were curious about exactly what happened, “Why didn’t you call us?”
“About that, it’s a long story,” Yoongi said as he continued to gently stroke Hoseok’s back. “Can we talk about this when he calms down a bit?”
They all patiently waited for Hoseok, Yoongi only began when he was sure that Hobi was ready.
—------------------------------------------
Yoongi yawned slowly waking up. He felt around for his phone when he caught sight of the digital clock. Rolling out of the bed with a thud, he rushed to gather his things and check out of the hotel that he had been staying in. He was running late to catch his flight and it made matters worse that his uber was taking their sweet time, he had called for one since they claimed it would be faster than using the shuttle.
By the time he reached the airport, his plane had already taken off and he was told he’d have to catch a different flight. Though the flight wouldn’t take off for another 3 hours and there was a layover, meaning he wouldn’t get there until the next day. Yoongi reached for his phone. He needed to call Hoseok and tell him that he wouldn’t be arriving until later. But the moment he checked, he understood why his alarm didn’t go off.
His phone was dead and he forgot to charge it up the night before. He began looking for his charger to see if he could at least charge up his a bit to leave a message but it was nowhere to be found. Yoongi had left his charger back at the hotel when he was in a rush, but it was far too late for him to try to go back and search for it now. He hoped they didn’t worry too much about him being late. He could count on Namjoon to keep Hoseok from staying at the airport all day, he’d feel bad if he tried to wait all day for him. “I’ll have to make it up to him later.”
“Make it up to who?” he heard a small voice whisper.
Yoongi nearly jumped looking over to see a young girl staring up at him, “Shouldn’t you be with your parents?”
“No, I can ride a plane all by myself. My escort told me to stay seated until they start boarding. Are you married? Where are you going?” Already the little girl was asking him a bunch of questions. He wanted to run away.
“Should you be talking to strangers?”
“Should you?” She threw it back at him.
“That’s not ho-”
“Can I have some?” she pointed to the marshmallow puffs he had with him.
This child really wasn’t cautious at all. Yoongi groaned but handed over his snacks to the kid. It at least kept her quiet for the time being until it was time to board the plane. When her escort came to take her onboard, she grabbed him. The nervous child asked if he could sit next to her on the plane. Yoongi softened a bit, she was a bit annoying but she was probably scared. Likely her first time flying on her own.
So he promised he’d try, which turned out to be easier than expected. The person he traded seats with was relieved to not have to sit next to a kid. He held her hand during the takeoff, easing her and telling her that everything would be alright. She calmed down once they were in the air, and even fell asleep for most of the trip. The times she was awake were when she badgered him with a bunch of questions.
Yoongi decided to answer them with as short of answers as possible, it worked better than ignoring her since it satisfied her curiosity. It also felt nice to have an airplane buddy, as she called them. The plane ride ended up feeling shorter than he imagined and the layover wasn’t too bad. When the flight ended, the young girl waved goodbye to him and ran to her grandparents that was waiting for her.
Stretching, Yoongi then headed home to find his friends grieving over him.
—------------------------------------------------------
Namjoon sighed, they had all been so scared the entire time. He was even about to call Yoongi’s family to tell them about what happened. He was tired, but he wasn’t mad at Yoongi at all, “Well, we’re all glad you’re safe now.”
“I’m really sorry for worrying you like this. If I knew, I would’ve tried to contact you all through another way,” Yoongi bowed his head.
"Seriously, we're all just glad you're still with us," Taehyung smiled, now leaning on Namjoon ready to go home after the ordeal.
Taking the sign, Namjoon excused himself to leave, the other slowly following after wishing Yoongi and Hoseok to stay safe. Soon it was just the two of them. Yoongi would then wipe away Hoseok's tears, "To think I'd cause you this much worry. I'll make sure to be careful next time."
"You didn't purposefully make me worried. Not like you could've predicted the plane would crash. You're safe and that's all that truly matters," Hoseok began sobbing again. "I just...I still feel so sad, so many others were still...they won't get a chance like this."
Hoseok even at this time was thinking about others. How they'd never see their loved ones again, and that many of them wouldn't be as lucky. His heart went out to those that were still grieving. He knew that feeling, the anxiousness of nearly losing someone who he loved deeply, someone he cared about more than jewels. It had not been an easy experience and even now everything still weighed on him. They wouldn't get their closure. Yoongi kissed his head holding him close, "No, they won't. But there are things we can do to help them. We won't be able to help each and every one of them, but how about we start with what we can do."
Hoseok nodded, liking the sound of that idea, "Yoongi, no more trips for now."
"I'll be staying right here with you," Yoongi promised. "For now and ever."