i. strings - brightwin

one

bright sighs. 

he enters the bus that's barely filled. it was no surprise because presumably, people would probably be at home by now. currently, it's 2 am. but it was rather ironic for bright how at this time, most people are home and resting on their beds. sometimes there's no reason as to why he thinks this way. sometimes it's because he never felt like he had a home and had taken the the satisfaction people would call from getting enough rest. 

because he's been tired. everything has gradually become even more tiring. painful, even. 

he walks over to the back seats and sits at the other end from the boy who was leaning his head on the window. bright took a glance of the object on top of the boy's lap. a journal. it was clear to bright that the boy was awake, because he was tapping his fingers on top of the blank page. he slowly looked up and almost jolted right up from his seat when he sees a pair of eyes staring back at him. 

it was rather unusual. how is it that just within a few seconds, it immediately entered bright's mind how those pair of eyes had struck to be the most beautiful ones he'd ever seen? 

"oh. i'm sorry," he muttered, the corner of his lips slowly tugging up into a smile. "i was just, i was caught off guard." 

he was expecting the boy to glare at him or sputter about how nosy he can be. but the boy only looked down on his journal, closed it, and leaned his head back against the window. bright frowns and looks out the window, only to feel the urge of looking back at the boy again after a few seconds. he doesn't even know the reason why. 

he places the guitar case on top of his lap and takes his phone out, with his earphones. again, for a reason he doesn't know and before he can even assess whatever he's doing, he finds himself tapping the boy's shoulder. 

"hey," he smiles, "want to listen to something? it might bore you, just looking out at the window."

the boy just stared at him. bright couldn't exactly read the expression written across his face. he doesn't wait for the boy's answer, anyway. he smiles and hands it for the boy to wear while he does the same. he silently jams along his all time favorite song, nicotine, glancing over the boy every now and then who's staring straight ahead.

 it doesn't seem to bother him about what bright has gotten himself to do. it doesn't look like he liked it very much, either. bright wasn't exactly sure how he was feeling because the boy looks hard to read. at that very moment, although neither uttered to each other a single word, the atmosphere that enveloped them carried nothing but comfort. 

there was a whole silence between them. until the bus stops. 

the boy beside him gathers his things but before he could even stand up, he sighs and opens his journal once more, ripping the corner of the page. bright silently looks at him, at what he was doing. the boy looks up and stared at him for a few seconds before a small smile spreads across his face as he hands the paper to bright. 

"for me?" bright asks, pointing to himself. the boy nods as he stands up and heads outside the bus. 

bright's eyes followed him until the bus heads its way through the streets again and the boy's figure had disappeared from his sight. he looks down, his mouth falling agape. 

'i can't speak my name out loud. but i'm win. i can't hear what you were listening to, either. but you seemed to enjoy it. you cannot tell, but i did too :)'

bright pronounces his name once again. win. the way his name roll out of his tongue, the way he hears it from himself even though he didn't get the chance to hear it from the other himself, is beautiful. he is beautiful. and bright feared that he'd never be able to say how beautiful it is, because he might not see him again.