STRANGERS. binsung

thirteen

Jisung had no discernible personality. That fact held him at gunpoint.

Maybe that was why he liked Changbin so much — he found comfort in having a secret, in having something that finally distinguished him from his best friends, from any other basic person in their school.

Yeah. Jisung was fine with continuing to do that. As long as it didn't get religious.

He was thinking these things, letting the fresh air through his nose, as he sat on top of the climbing frames in the same playground he ran into Changbin that one time.

Then he saw him again.

They made awkward eye contact. Jisung waved. Changbin waved back, unlike that one time in school.

The ravenette slowly but surely hoisted himself up and climbed to the top, right beside Jisung, immediately sighing at the relief of stability.

Somewhat of a smile was planted firmly onto Changbin's face. "Hey."

"Hi." Jisung murmured. It was all he could muster for that moment.

Changbin tapped at the metal bars they each sat on. Some particularly rusted parts had vulgar drawings on them. "So... how've you been?"

"I've been fine, except for the part where I got rejected—" he stopped to visibly chuckle. "But yeah, other than that, been good."

Changbin laughed too. "You're funny, Jisung."

The boy in question stopped himself from replying with too much haste. He thought for a moment. "Was it that hard to say 'sorry, I don't like you back'?"

Changbin had to think too. But all Jisung could think about as he did so was how fucking enchanted this cliché with an undercut looked, now that he was finally just at an arm's reach away, now that he was sitting beside someone so important.

"I, uhm, I wouldn't want to sound rude," he gulped, then chuckled it away. It seemed he was going to add something onto the end of that but came to a halt.

Jisung bitterly snickered. "So you pity me?"

"No, no! That's not it!" Changbin brought his hands up defensively. It earned a laugh.

"I know," he sighed, "you don't like me back, you could never ever see us dating in a million years, and you don't wanna be mean."

Changbin nodded, affirming this assumption.

"Changbin, let me tell you something," Jisung leaned back on nothing, "it's better to just say it. Rejection is not rude when you put it politely."

He only smiled. "I'll tell you something too. It's something only my best friend knows."

Jisung gestured in a way that non-verbally said, 'yeah, go on'. In his chest, cocoons that used each of his ribs to individually perch on suddenly sprouted into colourful butterflies that fluttered in and around his insides.

'Something only his best friend knows?'

"I have a scar on this ear," he brushed his fingers over his left ear, "from way back — like, primary school — when a kid in my class bit it."

The brunette raised a brow, but ultimately came to a modest chuckle. "Really? What did you do to make a kid bite you?"

"Dunno, maybe I beat him in P.E or something like that," Changbin laughed half-heartedly.

'I know something about him that only his best friend knows?'

There he went again making Jisung feel important.

"Changbin, why do you act like you don't even know me in school?"

Changbin opened his mouth, presumably to give an actual answer, and then promptly shut it.

He then diverted the conversation and started talking about mundane things: when the next holiday was; what dish they were cooking next in food tech; their friends, their specific friend groups; really mundane things.

But Jisung enjoyed it. He enjoyed being so close to Changbin. He enjoyed being able to just take in every inch of his face, of his whole being, of his expensive branded clothes, of his legs dangling off the edge of the climbing frame without a care in the world.

'Stop giving me hope, Seo Changbin.'

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