i. strings - brightwin

three

that's when they both realized. 

they were both heading towards the same way. there were both heading towards the same school. bright hadn't noticed at first because win wasn't wearing a school uniform at all. then it dawned unto him that the boy he was with is probably new. there were no words exchanged until they reached the lockers, win trailing behind bright while looking down. 

bright's friends came into view and it didn't take long enough for them to notice the boy who was with him. 

mike's tongue clicks as he slings an arm around bright, "oh, look, who do we have here?"

win felt like wanting the ground to swallow him whole right at this moment. he felt extremely horrible for some reason he doesn't know. bright noticed the expression on win's face and playfully punches mike's shoulder, stepping back beside win. 

"a new friend," he smiles widely as he says so. win slowly looks up at him, doesn't have any idea of whatever he's saying but is hoping it isn't bad at all.

"an addition to our group. please say he is," gun chirps, leaning against the lockers. 

"a multiplication, even," bright utters, the smile not leaving his face.

a multiplication. win doesn't have any idea at all but as much as he hoped he could hear their conversation out, bright wishes as much for him to hear what he's saying. to know how from that day on, win has tainted something on the blank canvas bright has been settling in without having anyone knowing. how more than possible it is to feel multiple emotions other than sadness even just for a moment. as long as it's with him.

"how come you're speaking jargon again?" gun questions with a puzzled look.

mike sighs, patting him on the head, "it isn't. you're just too dumb to know it."

"well, fuck, do you understand?" gun turns to him.

mike sighs once again and looks at gun, "i don't, as well." 

they all chuckled, their laughter filling in the atmosphere along with others who were having their own conversations as well. it was only win, who felt like being in a different atmosphere. until bright noticed and slings an arm around him.

"this is win." 

he slowly looks up at them with an unreadable expression on his face, then to bright, who ushered towards his friends. that's when he realized what was going on and waved at them. the bell rang afterwards and from there, bright helped him through with the schedule. unexpectedly and luckily, they both have the same subject for the first period. 

everything between them seems to just come after the word unexpected. as bright looked at win without the other having to notice it, he felt something he couldn't exactly apprehend but it makes him sad. and the sadder he feels like getting, the more he wants to keep him close to him. 

win suddenly fears the next thing that's to happen. for some, it looks quite easy. some would only take it as a joke and wouldn't mind doing it. but that's just not how everything works for everyone, not for win. he was afraid of standing right in front of everyone. all eyes were on him as he feels his legs becoming wobbly, his arms shaking. he squeezes his eyes as he looks down, feeling ashamed. 

he wants to leave. he feels like that's the only thing he's capable of doing. leaving everything behind. because sometimes when you've felt all that it's there to be left behind, it's easy enough to do the same thing with everyone and everything. that's what's running through his mind right now, until he looks up and his eyes locked with a familiar pair of brown orbs. 

bright smiles at him, giving him a thumbs up. at that very moment, it felt like everyone else didn't matter to him as much as they did when he stepped here right in front. 

he quavered back to reality when he felt the homeroom teacher's hand on his shoulder, smiling and gesturing for him to continue. at first, he looks up at him questioningly, but then moves on to grab a notebook from his bag, along with his pen, and starts to scribble some words. 

he smiles shyly and holds it up in front of everyone, 'hi. i'm win metawin.'

almost everyone had their full attention towards him. he doesn't know if it's a good thing but he goes on. 

'you can just call me win. i hope we can all be friends.' 

the silence was ruptured by the loud clapping of someone from the back row. bright stands up and claps his hand, leading on for everyone else to do the same. it wasn't until the homeroom teacher yells at the whole class to stop and guided win towards his chair. which was next to no other than the person with the brightest smile him he's ever seen. bright. 

he could sense other people's eyes still on him, especially the girls. and right now he just wants to run the hell away and let loose of everything back in his room. it's this hard. it's this hard and he wants to scream everything out but no matter what happens, a word can never escape as much as he wants to roll them out of his tongue. he was too drowned in his thoughts that he he almost jolted upright once again when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

bright put a sticky note on top of his desk. 

'you did great, little buffalo :)'

little buffalo. he doesn't know why, but he finds himself smiling. strange how five words from a person he's met not long enough could make him smile the way he did. 

he ripped a piece from his notebook and hands it to bright. 

'wouldn't have done it without you'

bright smiles, and writes him back with another post-it.

'same thing right here'

win glances up at him with a puzzled look on his face as he writes on the paper,

'what do you mean?'

bright grins and purses his lips before writing down, 

'wouldn't have been this happy without you :)'