How do we feel about a potential ateez x flight attendant reader? Sneak peek bc I haven't posted anything in a minute. If you can who the LI is, maybe I'll flesh this one out into an actual fic instead of just drabbling about with it. Or maybe if your theories are intriguing enough I will workshop the original plot into something new for you guys.
It's not every day that you find yourself at the hospital, but it always seems to happen when you’re already having a mess of a day. Fitting, you suppose, since it is the place best known for cleaning up messes and putting people back together. Luckily you aren't usually here as a patient, but with your penchant for clumsiness you probably should be. Fortunately for you, your trips over are usually just your best friends using you as a delivery service when they forget something or you coming by with peace offerings when they've had a particularly rough shift. You're not a stranger to long work days and the exhaustion of the on-call rotation.
You don’t have too many complaints, for all that you roll your eyes about it sometimes. You love your friends and you'd known the moment you befriended the charismatic boys in the dorm room down the hall during your undergraduate years that you were going to get pulled into their chaos. Having med students as best friends came with a few benefits though, and more often than finding yourself in urgent care, you end up at Wooyoung and San's apartment when something's wrong. Their space has become your own personal triage room, partly because you're more coordinated 3000ft in the air than on flat ground and partly because Wooyoung has a habit of being the responsible party behind your injury. San, bless his soft heart, hates to send you home with so much as a hair out of place so you're usually compensated with some kind of sweet treat as a reward for sitting well while they bicker about the best treatment for whatever is wrong with you that day.
It’s more bribery for your silence than anything but they patch you up well and you've become one of the very few people San shares his little snack stash with, willingly at least, so you consider yourself pretty lucky most days. It helps that you bring back international snacks to help replenish San's hidden drawers and baskets, and feed his not so secret sweet tooth after every long haul trip without him having to ask for anything. And that he’s really just a sweetheart at his core no matter how much he might whine about how you and Wooyoung test his patience on the daily.
As bad days go, this one has been more of a chain of small inconveniences than anything, so you're also pretty lucky in that respect. You've already managed to spill coffee down your favourite t-shirt, spend half an hour stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, burn your tongue twice on said coffee during that time and stub your toe getting out of the vehicle in the parking lot. Not to mention the ten minutes you spent convincing the electronic parking system to accept Woo's pass so you didn't have to pay out the nose and fight for a spot in the general lot to run this errand for your best friend. He's very lucky he's such a great cook, because few other people could drag you out of bed before noon on your first day off in two weeks without fighting for their life.
Even your roommate knows better than to try Wooyoungs loud koala bear wake up method. Hwa’s learned it's safer for everyone to simply toss a plushie at the lump under the covers and make sure there's a fresh cup of coffee waiting when you shuffle half awake into the kitchen. It works for you.
Wooyoung however, has no regard for his own safety and the survival instincts of roadkill on his best day. As a result, you're not exactly happy about being awake and still nursing a bruised rib from one the way one of Woo's elbows made contact when he tackled you in your bed this morning. The abrupt wake up call isn't exactly his usual preferred cuddle pile, so you're sulking but not exactly mad about it. At least this version didn't make you late for work.
You set the tray of coffees on the roof of your car for a second as you tuck your keys back into your purse and adjust the cooler bag over one shoulder. For all your complaints your best friend did make you breakfast and he's sending you on an errand to spoil two of his favourite people so you have to respect that. It's a little bit adorable the way he insists on taking care of your friends. You'll never say it to his face but he can be just as much of a mama bird with them as Seonghwa is with you. Ignoring that you're pretty sure your usually soft spoken drama avoidant roommate is the one who let that menace into your apartment this morning. He probably thought it would be good for you.
You won't admit he might have been right. Hwa is smug enough about it already. He practically grinned when Wooyoung had first dragged you out the door of your shared apartment earlier.
“I swear I took the spare key back last month.”
“You did.” Your best friend sing songs in response as he hands you your usual soup bowl of a mug.
“Then how did you get in here while I was sleeping? Sannie would've snitched if you'd made a copy.”
Wooyoung snorts. “Only because he couldn't come with me.”
You take a large sip of the sweet milky caffeine goodness. “If San had come with you I wouldn't have been woken up WWE style.”
Your roommate does laugh then as he hands Wooyoung some eggs.
“You would've been smothered to death instead.”
You narrow your eyes at the willowy man currently leaning one hip against your spotless kitchen countertop. “Just because you don't appreciate a little blanket burrito cuddle session does not mean the rest of us are equally ungrateful.”
Seonghwa smiles at you over the top of his own, much smaller mug, and runs a hand through his dark hair.
It's getting long now, almost as long as Wooyoung's, and you take a moment to note the similarities between the two men. It makes sense, these are the two people in the world that you spend the most time with so of course they would pick up a few traits from each other much the way Woo and San have become almost the same person in some ways after all the years of living, working and studying together every day. They both wear their hair down today, the ends almost brushing their shoulders, but where Woo is drowning in black track pants an oversized t-shirt Seonghwa looks unfairly put together in just sweats and a plain tank top.
“I have no issues with Sannie wrapping himself up in my blankets, I just have places to be.”
Hwa's voice is always soothing. You envy his easy morning routine. He’s not exactly more of an early riser than you, he's just adapted better to the hectic schedule. He’s probably already gone for his morning run, showered and had breakfast if you had to guess.
You decide to change the topic before Wooyoung stops being distracted by the food he's currently focused on not burning and butts in. You'll never end up leaving the apartment if he gets going.
“Are you working today?”
You know you could check the fridge, Hwa keeps the calendar meticulously colour coordinated, but you’re still just sleepy enough not to want to move from your current perch on one of the island stools.
“Mhm,” Your roommate hums. “Yongbok-ah called out today so I'm working the Paris flight with Hyunjin this afternoon.”
“Oh, nice.”
Seonghwa chuckles. It’s a good route. 6 to 8 hour flight time, depending on winds and turbulence, with a short layover in the city. It’s expensive there but the food is good, the views are beautiful and sometimes you're lucky enough to end up on a layover or to get sent on a little Eurotrip before coming back. Milan, Nice, Barcelona, Lisbon… there are so many short trips it's easy to take from there. It's all about scheduling and staffing, mostly at least, and you know Hwa has a fair amount of seniority now.
“Breakfast is ready.”
You let Wooyoung chatter on about his plans while Hwa inhales his food and then disappears to get ready. By the time he bundles you into your car with the large cooler bag packed full of containers of homemade food and kisses your cheek, you're less pessimistic about the day but your coffee stop on the way hadn't helped. Today is not your favourite weekday. In fact, it might just be going down in the books as A for awful after a whole coffee shop of office workers on their way to their morning shifts watched your spill earlier. The embarrassment is going to linger with you for a while yet. So of course instead of getting to the break room uninterrupted to leave their food in the fridge and sneak home in peace, you find yourself face to face with none other than Jeong Yunho whilst covered in half-dried iced coffee and with little patience left for the rest of the morning.
The always perfectly put together and effortlessly handsome shot of sunshine, best friend of your best friend has not a hair out of place. Well, okay so maybe it’s a little rumpled but he still looks gorgeous. You kind of hate him at this moment, or you would if he wasn't the actual embodiment of a golden retriever in human form. It's hard to hate someone who makes you laugh like breathing and finds a way to make even the shittiest day feel a little less brutal and exhausting.
“Good morning little bird.” Even his tone is upbeat and full of pep already.
“Put that smile away Jeong, I'm not in the mood to be laughed at this morning.”
The grin only quirks wider at one side as the man tries his best to suppress his amusement but the twinkle in his eyes betrays him. You hold up a hand and lift the tray of coffee cups towards his chest like a shield.
“Can I interest you in an iced americano?”
He considers the tray in your hand. “This is bribery I take it?”
“When do I ever do nice things for you without an ulterior motive?”
He does laugh then, carefully extracting the cup with his name scrawled on it and using one large hand to help rebalance the tray in your perilous grasp.
“Only when you've been threatened. You'll have to tell me what exactly Woo has over you one of these days. He's the only person I've ever met who can get you to do anything against your will.”
You roll your eyes. “Are you calling me stubborn?”
“Yes.”
You just sigh. “What happened in college stays in college.”
Yunho just shakes his head and you take a moment to soak in the calm presence. He's like a human battery. For every ounce of energy Wooyoung's chaos takes out of you, Yunho's soft easy warmth charges it right back. They make a good pair and you see why both your closest friends, and even your roommate, are quite fond of him. He’s always patient, great in any crisis, not to mention effortlessly gorgeous and with a glass half-full kind of personality to boot.
“Busy shift today?”
He shrugs. “Not any more than usual, so far at least. I did hear the night shift was a nightmare though. I don't envy Woo tonight.”
You shake your head as he sips his coffee. “If anyone can handle this place, it’s Woo. Give him a few more months and he'll be running the ER.”
Yunho laughs as he considers this. You can practically see him picturing it. You make eye contact and he nods.
“He is good at managing people.”
You snort. Good is an understatement.
“And he's great with the kids.”
You smile softly at that. “Mm kids and dogs always love him.”
Yunho chuckles. “Yeah he's a favourite amongst the young patients and every woman over the age of twelve.”
You can’t help the smile you share. “Casanova. Don't tell me he's out here flirting with all the aunties and grandmothers?”
Yunho just wiggles his eyebrows at you. “You know him just as well as I do.”
You sigh. “I'm starting to see why he sends me in on his days off.”
Yunho just smiles into his drink. He's grown into his gangly height over the years and you wonder if he'll stick with this hair colour. You have to admit, the honey blonde suits him more than you expected it would.
“Speaking of Wooyoung, what mission has he sent you on today?”
“Is San around? I've been voluntold to deliver you both lunch and coffee.”
Yunho just folds his arms over his chest, leaning a hip against the desk beside him. “Probably. He’s on the schedule for today but I haven't seen him yet.”
The nurses at their station don't even give the two of you a second glance. They're used to your quick visits to the floor and they have more important things to do than eavesdrop on these conversations. There’s much more interesting gossip most of the time to focus on instead anyway.
You sigh. Yunho cocks his head but before he can say anything more, a nurse shuffles over clipboard in hand and his attention immediately shifts.
“Dr. Jeong? We've had a development with Mr. Bae.”
Yunho doesn't even look at you, eyes already scanning the chart as he leans in over the petite woman's shoulder, but you know dismissal when you hear it.
“You know where the break room is, I trust you can find San without an escort?”
“I'll manage.”
You know he can't see your eyeroll but you think you catch the barest hint of a smirk on his lips from the corner of your eye as you turn to make your way down the hall. You'd make a snide comment about it but he's already walking past you, long strides eating up the space in no time as the nurse at his side struggles to keep up with his quick pace. You just shake your head and move to find your other coffee delivery recipient. Between the two of them your day is probably going to do a real one eighty, and you can’t say you aren't relieved to find it improving already.
