The cargo plane at incheon international airport, a private hanger Mingyu led Leo to looked like it had survived at least three world wars and a good number of natural disasters. It looked terrible.
Leo stood at the base of the loading ramp, still handcuffed to Mingyu, staring up at the rusted hull.
"This?" He gestured with his free hand. "This is what we're flying in?"
"Yes. It's not tracked." Mingyu was already climbing the ramp, dragging Leo with him.
"Well, yeah," Leo snapped. "...because it probably can't get off the ground."
"The shipping container is still available." Mingyu smiked, looking at him.
He swallowed and smiled. Nervous. "This is just fine. Beautiful."
"Better."
Inside, the cargo bay was filled with unmarked crates. Mingyu found a clear corner, dropped a duffel bag Leo hadn't seen him carrying, and sat down on a crate. Then he pulled out an expensive looking laptop. Leo settled next to him. It's not like he had a choice, given the handcuff situation.
"So.." Leo started. "...we're just gonna sit here for, what, three hours? In silence?"
"Yes. It's 9:33 AM. Finding something to do. Do not disturb me by any chance."
"Cool. I can do silence."
Thirty seconds passed.
"I'm usually better at silence." Leo said.
Mingyu didn't even bother looking up from his screen.
"Like, I teach meditation classes sometimes y'know. I'm great at quiet. People pay me to help them find inner peace, you know." Leo said boastfully.
Mingyu's typing got louder.
"Fun fact," Leo continued. "I once held a plank for eleven minutes without talking. Eleven! That's almost twelve."
Mingyu finally looked up at him. "If I ungag you after takeoff, will you stop talking?"
"You're going to gag me?"
"I'm considering it."
Leo laughed. It made him look even more infuriatingly likeable and Mingyu hated it. "Man, you are 'wound tight'. When's the last time you like relaxed or loosened up a bit. Y'know, had fun? Or even smiled? I see wrinkles," he said pointing and touching a spot on Mingyu's face.
Mingyu slapped his hands off. "Ow!" Leo protested rubbing the back of his hand. "That hurts."
"Good for you. Well, I'm always busy. I don't have time for fun."
"Everyone has time for fun. Fun is important. Fun is literally what keeps people from becoming, like, supervillains."
"I'm not a villain."
"Didn't say you were." Leo said, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Chill. But you're definitely giving off 'one bad day away from becoming a villain' energy." He laughed to his own attempt at a joke but Mingyu just frowned. He closed the laptop very slowly. Turned to face Leo fully. "You talk a lot for someone who's handcuffed to a person with more than fifty-nine confirmed kills."
Leo's grin didn't fade. "Fifty-nine? That's it?"
"Yes. Confirmed. Kills."
"So there's more."
Mingyu's expression was unreadable. Leo leaned back against the crate, completely relaxed. "Listen, man. I get it. You're scary. You're competent. You've probably done bad stuff and maybe probably got a long list of terrifying enemies giving the fact you have five confirmed kills."
"Fifty nin...ugh!" Mingyu surprised himself by responding. This dude was super annoying.
"Whatever. I heard five. Don't argue, just listen. Here's the thing," Leo interrupted, holding up their cuffed wrists. "For better or worse, we're stuck together now. So we can do this the hard way or,"
"There is no 'we'."
"..or we can do this the slightly-less-hard way where we don't actively make each other miserable. It's your call."
The plane's engines rumbled to life. Mingyu turned to Leo and then, back to his laptop. "First, you do not give me orders." He turned back so fast Leo that he actually flinched.
Before Leo could respond, the aircraft suddenly shook violently sending both men flying and landing hard on the ground.
Mingyu's laptop clattered with a loud Thud! to the floor. His face tilted sideways as he winced from the pain of his body's impact with the metal floor of the plane. Before he could register what was going on, Leo crashed down right on top of him. "Ow!" Leo exclaimed.
"Ow?!" Mingyu snapped. "I'm the one to complain not you. Get off me..."
The handcuff linking their wrists yanked them together the more they tried to kill apart. Leo landed hard, chest to chest, hips flush against Mingyu's as he completely surrendered his body to lay fully on Mingyu's. "I told you this cuffs were a bad idea," He cried.
But Mingyu's mind were somewhere else. 'Oh... god!' The first thing he registered was heat. The second was the unmistakable, firm pressure of Leo's bulge pressed right against his own groin, heavy and slowly getting thick as the seconds went by. The third was Leo's massive body completely surrendered on his. His head was inches away from Mingyu's, while Mingyu's free hand had instinctively shot up and was now splayed across Leo's bare, hairy chest, fingers tangled in to close to his nipples.
'No, no no! This was romance 101. Get rid of this now!' Mingyu told himself, panicking at the awkwardness of it all.
Leo's breath hitched. Mingyu felt the sharp intake of air and the way Leo's heart hammered beneath his palm like a war drum. Leo instantly shot his head up, their faces were inches apart, close enough that Mingyu could see the flecks of gold in Leo's grey eyes.
"I..." Mingyu started, but another tremor ran through the plane, and Leo shifted his hips to catch his balance. The friction was everything and too much all at once. Leo had moved a little and now their bodies were perfectly aligned; bulge on bulge, chest on chest, and face close enough to plant the perfect kiss.
Their handcuffed wrists were trapped awkwardly between their bodies, the metal biting into skin as they struggled to find leverage. Every attempt Leo made to push himself up only made things worse, his thick thigh sliding between Mingyu's legs, their bodies grinding together in a way that was absolutely not accidental anymore.
"Stop...moving...!" Mingyu gritted out, voice rough and wrecked, because every shift of Leo's hips was making the situation worse.
"I'm... trying..." Leo gasped, and Mingyu could feel him now, almost fully hard pressed against his own body.
The intercom crackled to life. "Apologies, Agent Minnie. There was an unexpected turbulence. We're through the worst of it now."
They both froze. The cabin settled into smooth flight.
Neither of them moved for a long, excruciating moment, just Leo hovering over Mingyu, breathing hard, the evidence of exactly how not fine they both were pressed between them. Mingyu's free hand fully placed and covering Leo's now hard nipples.
Leo cleared his throat. "You, uh..."
"Yeah...oh sorry." Mingyu's voice came out strangled. He tried to pull his hand back, but the handcuffs made it an awkward, fumbling disaster. His fingers dragged across Leo's chest, and he felt the shudder that ran through the other man's body.
Finally, finally, Leo managed to push himself up, muscles flexing under Mingyu's touch as he struggled with their joined wrists and stood up, helping Mingyu off the ground.
Cough. Mingyu stared determinedly at the window, his hand still tingling from the feel of Leo's skin. "Remind me to....uhm.... get you a shirt when we land."
Leo coughed too, way more than necessary, adjusting himself as subtly as possible, which was not subtle at all given their joined wrists. "Yeah..." Cough. He cleared his throat roughly. "Sorry. About the," He gestured vaguely at the space between them, at everything that had just happened.
Then Mingyu's memory hit back. "Wait! I wasn't done with what I was saying before the uhm..." Cough. Cough.
"Yeah?"
The he continued. " Yes. Second, the moment we land in Osaka, I'm putting you in a safe house with armed security and completely forgetting you exist."
"Sure you will?" Leo joked.
"I will, I mean it."
"Okay." Leo's grin turned into something smaller, disappointment maybe. "But until then, we're partners, yeah?"
"We're not."
"Temporary partners?"
"No."
"Associates?"
"No."
"Two dudes handcuffed together on a cargo plane fleeing international assassins?"
Mingyu's eye twitched again.
Leo took that as a win. "Yeah?"
"No."
"Aw.. men. You're so lame." He said chuckling.
He turned to face Mingyu and for the first time, he saw something on his face that was very close to a smile. The plane lurched forward, picking up speed. Through the small window, Seoul disappeared behind them in a blur of mist, wind and sunrise.
Leo watched the city vanish, then looked at Mingyu, really looking at him for the first time since they met. His rigid posture was intimidatingly attractive. He was constantly vigilant. So much so that his free hand never strayed far from the knife in his boot. This was a real man. But sadly an emotionally broken one. It seemed.
"Stop staring." Mingyu snapped.
'How did he know?' Leo swallowed.
"Wrinkles." He said.
"Hey!"
And they both laughed together for the first time. Few minutes passed and then Leo said, quieter now. "Thank you..... though."
Mingyu didn't respond at first, the he said finally did. "Whatever."
Leo chuckled. "You have good comedic timing."
***
OSAKA – DOTONBORI DISTRICT:
11:47 PM
They had been in Japan for nine hours. The safe house Mingyu had mentioned turned out to be a hole-in-the-wall capsule hotel run by a strange old man.
When the man saw them, he asked zero questions and just accepted cash quietly. Mingyu had finally removed the handcuffs two hours ago, which Leo took as a progress to them hopefully becoming partners till he got to safety.
"I need both hands free to hack the capsule hotel's registry and erase any trace of them." He had said.
Leo didn't believe him though, given what had happened in the plane, but " Okay." He responded. As long as they were still together and he didn't put him in a container. Yet. Hopefully.
"Let's go eat something. I'm hungry....Oppa" Leo said, hoping to lighten the mood with his sarcasm.
"No." Mingyu said.
"No?"
"No!" Mingyu said again. "Only girls call their 'boyfriends' Oppa. Don't call me that. We're not in that kind of relationship. We're not in any kind of 'relationship'."
Leo chuckled. "So what should I call you then?"
"Mingyu."
"Mingyu," Leo repeated. "Oppa?!"
"Stop!"
Leo laughed so hard Mingyu wanted to punch him.
"I'm sorry, Opp...Mingyu." He corrected raising his arm up in surrender. But he was still laughing.
"I should have dumped you in the container."
"Well you didn't....cause you like me around, don't ya?
"I don't." Mingyu retorted, walking faster.
"Liar." Leo chuckled rushing to keep up with his pace. Was Mingyu lying tho? Maybe or Maybe not. Maybe it's Maybelline. Leo would never know. At least for now.
"Can I call you 'Minnie' like the pilot did earlier?"
"Don't you dare."
Leo giggled. Teasing him was so much fun.