Lan didn't take a breath until the plane started rolling, not hovering over the tarmac. Saya watches as this big man sort of collapses in on himself as he exhales, the tension from before melting away.
“See? That wasn't so bad.” She tilts her head back to watch the lines of the runway roll past them. “And I didn't even have to close the blind, either.”
The plane taxis its way slowly towards the terminal as people start to unbuckle their seatbelts. Some even start getting up in the aisle to collect their belongings from the overhead compartments, which earns them a scolding from the attendant, which they all seem to ignore.
Saya wasn't in much of a hurry, this was a vacation after all. This was her first time in a smaller plane, though, and walking out onto the runway to board was new. When it seemed that the same would be done for disembarking, she's rather surprised.
“Does this..” she wonders out loud, not bothering to finish her sentence as she realizes why. Even though the plane was smaller, it was faster to load and unload, which meant more flights, which meant more money.
“Hmm?” Lan, beside her reaches up and unlocks the overhead compartment, not needing to stand up to get at their bags.
He looked so small five minutes ago, she thinks, looking at his arm reaching up, his knees still bunched up against the seat in front of him. She shakes her head and unbuckles her own belt. “Mm-mm, it's nothing.”
He does have to stretch though, pulling her bag out first and letting it thump down in the aisle. The plane had started to brake, as crew crossed their arms in a stop motion, others running under with wooden blocks to chock under the tires.
“C'mon, we should be..” he says, stopping. The flight attendant stands up and starts releasing the door locks and laying out the stairway-door to the open world. She only turns to look back at the cabin when two passengers start arguing.
Saya winces a bit and turns to look at Lan, who is looking behind him as well, at a suited man bumping his knees up against her carry-on. They were arguing in Japanese, and though she caught only a few words, it was enough. He wanted past, and Lan wasn't letting him.
–
“Move your bag.”
Lan turns and looks up at the man nodding down towards Saya's bag. He turns to the front and people had barely started making their way out of their seats to the open door.
“In a minute,” Lan responds – in English - holding a grip on the handle of Saya's bag when his arm jerks forward a bit.
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The man had bumped his knee against her bag, nudging it forward. “Move your fuckin' bag you foreign asshole.”
I did not suffer on this flight for you, he thinks, his jaw clenching as he holds her bag in the aisle. Don't. He smiles up at the passenger and nods, turning to Saya.
“C'mon, we should be..” This time a harder knee to her bag, his arm yanking as the bag is shoved up in the aisle, the suited man following almost tip-toed behind it. “Out of the way, already,” the suit repeats.
And I was just starting to enjoy the medication again.
Lan reaches over with his free hand and shoves the rolling bag back against the man's knees, unbuckling his belt and twisting to look up at him proper.
The suit was in a hurry, it seemed, and did not know his fucking manners, he thinks.
“OI.” Lan belts out, catching the suit by surprise at the yell. “Where the fuck you going?” he states in Japanese – further making the man draw back a bit.
“You see all these fucking people in front of us? You think getting past us is gonna get you to that door faster, asshole?”
Lan couldn't turn to exit his row facing the man, so he simply backed a heel up against Saya's bag and slid out into the aisle, turning to look down at the man: from a craned, too-tall-for-this perspective, it was ridiculous.
“Front to back, haven't you ever flown before, shithead?”
Saya recognized that word, or words like it, and reaches over and puts a hand on Lan's arm, who looks down at her, his expression softening.
She shakes her head and tilts her head towards the open aisle – all the other passengers in front had exited already. Lan steps into the row opposite their own and crooks his fingers to Saya, motioning her out. C'mon.
She looks between him and the other half of the argument before deciding it's easier to get it over with than bother. She shifts from her seat to his, and into the aisle, picking up her bag.
Saya bows slightly to the man, who was clutching his briefcase against his chest with both arms in protection from Lan. He nods his head slightly in return. When the suit doesn't make a move to trample forward as before, Lan grabs his own bag out of the compartment, and gives him one last look. Say something else, it said.
Sighing, Lan follows, bent over behind Saya who led the way to the exit. “You didn't have to bow, you know,” he switches to English.
She just rolls her eyes at the machismo of it all and smiles to the attendant as she exits the plane.