Arrivals and Departures

(AU: "Our flights back home keep getting cancelled and delayed thanks to the weather, but at this point I don't think I mind." – foriamjustlikeyou)

"FLIGHT WN 485 TO NEW YORK, JFK HAS BEEN DELAYED. PLEASE REMAIN IN THE TERMINAL FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION."

Cinder Linh hit her head against the back of her chair. She'd been in the airport for six hours now. Her flight was meant to take off four hours ago, but there was a torrential downpour of snow–rather, a blizzard–outside and she shouldn't have been so surprised.

She really, really hated the Midwest. At least there was no snow on the West Coast.

She glanced down at her book. It had long since gotten boring. Well, not boring, but mostly she was too tired to read it.

Even if they canceled her flight, there's no way a cab could come pick her up and take her to a hotel. The snow was too bad. She was trapped until it blew over. She threw her book into her carry-on and ripped her headphones out.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered to herself. Cinder was mindlessly exhausted, and she'd hoped to catch some sleep on the plane, but apparently not….

Someone laughed, breaking the silence, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. "Didn't mean to scare you," he said, still laughing when she looked over. "I don't think we're ever getting out of here, though."

She stitched her eyebrows together and looked around. "How long have you been there?"

He laughed again. "About three hours."

"Oh. Sorry."

Cinder got a good look at him. He had copper-brown eyes and swooping black hair and the most heart-shattering smile she'd ever seen. He was wearing a grey button-up and black slacks and, though his clothes were wrinkled from all the sitting, he looked pretty good. "It's fine," he said. "You were very focused on your book."

She chuckled. "Yeah, that's… yeah. Sorry. I don't pay very much attention to my surroundings sometimes. Especially when I'm stuck in them without proper stimulation for far too long. Really drains me."

"Oh, I understand. Happens to me all the time." He stuck out his hand. "Kai."

"Cinder." She tried to hide her blush as she shook his hand, but his eyes never left hers.

And she thought that, perhaps, she might drown in them.

"So," he said, sitting back against his chair. "We're stuck here together until they inevitably cancel our flight. You from here?"

She shook her head. "Portland, actually. This is my layover. You?"

"Houston." He rolled his eyes. "Hell City. Moved there for work. Flying for work. Everything for work."

"Ever been to St. Louis?"

"Too many times." He unplugged his cell phone charger from the outlet behind his chair and tucked it into his bag. "It lost its appeal after the fifth visit. Have you been?"

"Somewhere other than this airport? Nah."

"It's not that great, trust me."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat before looking over at her. "You wanna go for a walk? I know everything's closed, but I can't sit here much longer. I don't even know if I have nerve connection to my feet anymore."

Glad to be able to get away from that stupid chair, she stood up, but lost her balance almost immediately. "Apparently, I might not, either. C'mon, let's walk the terminal and hope no one steals our things."

Kai threw a glance around the gate. "Everyone's either asleep or staring at the floor and hoping the snow overtakes this place and freezes us all to death, so I think we're good."

She smiled. "Well, let's get going, then. We probably shouldn't venture too far, in case some kid wakes up and decides to go rifling through our stuff."

Having stowed away their valuable belongings, they moved to walk through the terminal.

"So," he began, "what's in New York?"

"Friends," she replied. "They want me to move in, but I can't. I'm just visiting. You?"

He chuckled. "Work, like I said. Everything's all work all the time."

"Guess your girlfriend isn't too pleased with that?"

She would've been lying had she said she hadn't felt a ping of jealousy at the very mention of the word. But why? He was just a stranger. A dangerously handsome, kind stranger….

He chuckled again. "No girlfriend, no wife. Married to my job."

"What do you even do?"

"Market Research Analysis. So exciting."

She liked his sarcasm. "Look at you, Mr. College."

"Oh, god. Don't call me that!" His tone was amused, so she knew he wasn't really offended. "It was my dad's dream and I just went with it. But, eh, no one cares about my tragic back story. What about you? What do you even do, Miss Cinder?"

She liked the way he said her name, too. "I fix cars for a living. So exciting."

They passed a string of closed restaurants and shops before circling back around. "Hey," he said. "That can't be too terrible, can it?"

"How did you phrase it?" she asked. "Married to the job? I'm not married to the shop, we're just dating, but it's pretty serious."

"I take it you're not seeing anyone, then."

She shrugged. "I took my only vacation time to go visit my friends for a few days, if that tells you anything. I have most weekends off, but I just spend them catching up on sleep and trying to keep my apartment clean."

"Sounds hectic."

"I make it work."

He hummed for a moment. "So, Cinder. If you could move anywhere in the country, where would you go?"

"Atlanta, I think."

"Have you been to Atlanta?"

She scoffed. "No. It's just… it's not the west coast."

"Okay, well, the air is way too thick there. Wouldn't recommend."

"You're from Houston!" She laughed aloud. It seemed to echo in the otherwise quiet airport. They'd almost walked the entire terminal now, their seats in view. Cinder was glad, too, because she was starting to feel tired–well, tired enough to sleep. "So, if I need recommendations on where I should move, if I ever get the chance to, I should just ask you?"

He flashed her a grin. She liked that the most. "Yeah. I've been just about everywhere."

"Seattle?"

"Too rainy."

"Indianapolis?"

"Boring!"

"Columbus?"

"Hell no. Believe me, you want to avoid the Midwest as much as possible."

"Maybe I'll just stay in Portland. I'm going to die alone and in Oregon. I'm almost looking forward to it."

They sat back down in their chairs and she tucked a leg under her, facing him.

He waved his hand in the air. "You won't die alone, and I know you won't die in Oregon. There's too much of the world for you to be stuck there."

"Where would you move?" she asked, smiling.

"Phoenix. The heat is akin to Hell, I'm sure, but it's dry and I really love the desert."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "And having rocks for your front lawn, apparently."

"They're pretty endearing."

He looked around again. Nothing had changed since they left, and all of their things were still tucked cleanly underneath the chairs. "So, hey, I swear I don't do this every time my flight gets delayed and I meet a pretty girl, but if we do happen to make it to New York, can I get your number? We can meet up, if you don't mind taking a few hours away from your friends." He looked away and she noticed that his ears had shaded pink. "And, if I'm ever in Portland, maybe you can take time out of your busy schedule to hang out."

Pretty? Cinder blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Are-are you insinuating that, if we're ever in the same place at the same time, we should go on dates?"

"Call them whatever you want, Miss Cinder. I was thinking of just, you know, two adults getting together to eat good food and drink good coffee and talk about their lives."

She giggled nervously. "So, dates."

"Sure, Cinder. Dates. What do you say?"

She slipped her hand into her back pocket, pulled out her phone, and opened the contacts app before handing it to him. "Consider it done. But, you know, even if we don't make it to New York, we could still find something to do here while it all blows over…." She blushed and bit her lip, but he just smiled down at her phone.

"Sure, Cinder," said Kai.

He handed her phone back and she texted him to make sure that he'd have her number, too. As they settled into the night, the conversation drifted into little tidbits here and there. Mostly silence.

She found herself dozing off not an hour later, her head on his shoulder.

Deep down, Cinder knew that this would not end here.

Author's Note: I. Love. OTP prompts.