A/N: I tend to name all of my TGP fics as mock college courses. I'm not sure why, it's just fun?
No ships, just some random character interaction. I'm pretty tired, so it's not very long.
Prompt: We're stuck at the airport with cancelled flights and you look really sad
"Airports really are the common ground for people."
Tahani scoffed and rolled her eyes behind her designer sunglasses. "You're not Chidi. Stop trying to sound like him."
Eleanor puffed up as much as her overstuffed downy coat would let her. As soon as they'd left Australia, she'd remembered exactly how much she hated America in the winter time. The southern hemisphere had dulled her past memories of windchill and lake effect snow squalls. "I'm not- That's not what I was doing," Eleanor insisted hotly.
Jason swung his head over the back of the seats to interject his thoughts on the matter. "Eleanor isn't trying to be like Chidi. I just thought the same thing," he said with his easygoing grin.
Without wrinkling her nose at how close Jason's morning Mountain Dew breath was now, Tahani met his eyes over the top of her sunglasses. "You were just thinking about how airports are the equalizer of humanity."
"No. I was thinking how everyone could fly to the same place - like Jacksonville - but they don't."
Both Eleanor and Tahani blinked at his explanation. "That's… almost something, bud," Eleanor said. With a nod to himself, Jason turned back around and flipped his magazine open again. The two women exchanged bewildered expressions. Leaving Chidi to spend some alone time with Simone had seemed like as kind of a gesture they could manage for the holidays. Until they realized that meant keeping track of Jason on the trip to and from the US.
Eleanor retreated further into her coat. " Anyways , I just meant that airports put everyone on pretty much the same foot. Other than getting to board 3 minutes earlier or missing out on Sally Squeeze a Lot at the TSA, everyone's equally miserable," she muttered.
"Did you want to get early boarding? I told you that we could check and see if my dear friend Dicky Branson still takes my calls," Tahani offered. She was certain that she'd made the suggestion before. It had been on Eleanor for not taking her up on it.
"No," Eleanor huffed. She sent a side-eyed glare at Tahani's phone that had appeared helpfully in her hand. "That's not what I meant when I mentioned it. It's just- No. Never mind." She slouched further in her chair, shoving her nose under her zipped-up collar.
Tahani slipped her phone back into her pocket with a shrug. "Fine then." Any reply Eleanor attempted to verbalize was lost to the jacket. They sat in relative silence until the sound of the gate announcer roused Eleanor once again.
"I'm going for a walk. Get some warmth back into some part of me, even if it's just from standing under the damn hand dryers in the bathroom," she announced. Tahani shook her head. Her offer to give Eleanor one of her hand-woven pashminas hadn't been good enough for the woman. She deserved to shiver if she wasn't going to help herself.
Still, watching Eleanor shove through the crowd stomping her feet and hunching her shoulders did awaken some of that patented Al-Jamil sympathy. Trusting Jason to watch their carry ons gave her pause, but, well, what good was a diamond trust credit card for if not replacing novelty neck pillows and souvenirs from North Dakota?
Following behind Eleanor, Tahani stopped only once to pick up a pair of coffees. The cashier - mistaking her for Kamilla - only charged her for one.
"Here," Tahani said roughly as she held the second coffee in Eleanor's direction.
"What's that for?"
"Because you're freezing. And I'm sorry for not listening to what you had to say. I think… I took your comment to be turning your nose up at we upper class peoples being in your, er, middle class lifestyle for the duration," Tahani said. She held up as many fingers as she could without dropping either beverage.
"Let me finish! I was putting my own interpretation of what you were saying before letting you finish. And worse, I covered for my own irritation with petty sniping. Horrific form, I know. So. I'm sorry. Have this lukewarm cafe americano, and feel free to talk about whatever you want. I think it may keep your mind off this miserable chill in the air."
Eleanor regarded Tahani with narrowed eyes. She did allow one hand to leave her pockets to snatch the coffee. Only after slurping more than a small amount did her expression temper to not be openly hostile. "Alright then, Miss Upper Class. I accept your peace offering. But… can we keep walking around? I think if Jason opens up one more bag of doritos I might vomit."
A/N: Day 6 of the "12 Days of Ficmas!" This is a shortfic event that I'm running on my profile leading up to Xmas 2018. There are fics from multiple fandoms, so please check out my profile for more!