Taehyung is in the middle of a seatbelt demonstration when he sees him.
And it isn't because the guy has his headphones secured over his ears during his - highly entertaining - demonstration of how to properly fasten a seatbelt, which happens to be one of his biggest pet peeves because unlike Jimin, who's demonstrating in the next aisle over looking like happy Buddha, Taehyung actually puts in the effort to make this lousy-ass demo fun.
He has a dark head of hair with an equally dark set of eyes, heavy in contrast compared to his red headphones that's blaring music so loud even Taehyung can hear as he pretends to pull an oxygen mask over his face. As the words if she a bad bitch, let's get to it mash with the female intercom explaining the plane's emergency exits, Taehyung has to fight the urge to roll his eyes so far back he checks himself out. Don't get him wrong, the guy is pretty and all, harmless too, but Taehyung briefly wonders, who wouldn't want to learn the safety precautions of the plane?
As soon as the demonstration ends, he and Jimin prepare for takeoff, walking up and down the aisles to make sure everyone has their seat belts fastened properly, phones off, compartments closed, the usual. Red-headphones guy is still plugged in to his phone, music loud, fingers typing away, and Taehyung should have expected he'd be unbuckled, too (he also feels pretty bad for the little girl sitting beside him, who hopefully has no idea what Valentine in that pussy means).
"Excuse me, sir," Taehyung says, motioning in front of the guy's face, smile in place because he can't seem rude. The guy looks up at him questioningly, pulling one side of his headphones off. "Could you turn off your phone until after takeoff?"
"Oh yeah, sorry," he says, and Taehyung catches a glimpse of his name, Jeongguk, on the boarding pass laying in his lap.
"Make sure you fasten your seatbelt too," Taehyung says, straightening up and winking at the little girl staring at him with innocent eyes.
Jeongguk reaches down and tugs at the straps, trying to shove one end into the wrong side of the other. He struggles for a few long minutes, Taehyung not bothering to help as some kind of secret punishment for Jeongguk not watching his perfect demo just five minutes ago. He kind of wants to slap him in the head with a safety pamphlet, but he'd also already gotten this far without screwing up, so why now?
"Fuck me," Jeongguk mutters under his breath, Taehyung chokes a little, "I honestly have no idea what this is. Help?"
Taehyung sighs, quietly of course, but smiles warmly, "Yeah, of course."
Taehyung leans down and adjusts the belt slightly smaller, twisting it straight from where Jeongguk had completely fucked up. Jeongguk has a thin waist compared to the person that had sat in this seat before him. He's also hyperaware of how tight his jeans are on his toned legs and the warm breath fanning against his ear, so he stands up quickly before he does anything embarrassing, flashing one last smile before continuing down the aisle.
"Row thirty-six, seat A tried to grope me," Jimin whispers warily as the plane begins takeoff.
"Is she hot."
"He looks eighty."
"So is that a yes?"
"Yes," Jimin deadpans, expressionless. "God no. I can't even joke. He's the grandpa in red at the left side."
Taehyung sits up straight and squints. Sure enough, the man is pretty damn old.
"Oh, ew, talk about Maze Runner in the wrinkles on his neck," Taehyung says, scrunching his nose and frowning.
The rest of takeoff goes well, albeit a little shaky. As he slouches back against his seat before the Captain gives them the 'okay', bumping shoulders with Jimin, Taehyung feels his face tingle with the sensation of being watched. When he looks up, he catches Jeongguk's gaze, who smirks and turns back around in his seat.
