4419 — seo changbin
word count: 1.7k
summary: you couldn’t help but notice the intimidating boy at your bus stop.
a/n: this is.....bad. but happy birthday changbin ! i love u king
You saw him every day. He sat on the same spot on the bench every day, earbuds shoved in his ears. The music he played was loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to understand. It sounded pretty intense, though.
Everything about him seemed pretty intense. His dark hair that brushed over his eyes. Nearly black eyes that stared at the pavement blankly. A tightly set mouth that looked like it would spit curses at you if you said the wrong thing. The boy was overall very intimidating, and as much as he intrigued you, you were too afraid to speak to him.
So everyday you would watch him from your post next to the bench, one of your earbuds playing the newest TWICE album, trying desperately to rid yourself of your fear. You didn’t know why you wanted to talk to him so badly; to befriend him. He didn’t look lonely...but maybe you did. Maybe you thought he would be able to see right through your colorful socks and My Melody lunch box and see just how lonely you were. The puffiness surrounding your eyes from nights of crying over your nearly empty contact list.
And every day, you were snapped out of these thoughts by the sound of the bus pulling up to your spot. Bus 4419, the one the both of you took every day. You took it to school, obvious by the uniform you wore. The boy didn’t go to school, or at least you didn’t think he did. He didn’t wear a school uniform. He liked to wear black, you noticed.
The boy always sat in the back of the bus, in the last row with the extra seats. And he always took the window seat. Maybe he liked to look out the window and pretend he was in a movie, you thought. You always took the window seat, too. You especially liked the window seat on rainy days, when you were able to watch the drops slide down the window.
On one of those rainy days, you started thinking. Does the boy in the back of the bus ever think about you the way you think about him? Does he notice the cheerful tunes blasting from your earbuds? Does he notice that you only wear yellow socks on Mondays because Mondays are difficult and you appreciate the pop of sunshine covering your ankles? Part of you wished that he did. The part of you that was lonely, searching for someone that could understand you. And something told you that he would understand.
You got your answer the very next week. You were sitting on the bench, back hunched as you scribbled down chemistry answers from a picture on your phone.
“Rough weekend?” You heard the voice, but you assumed it was a pair of friends seeing each other after the weekend, so you didn’t react until a black shoe reached out to gently kick at your white tennis shoes. You jolted, lifting your head so fast your earbud fell out. The boy was staring at you blankly, not bothering to repeat himself.
“Oh, m-me? What makes you think that?”
“Well,” he started, “you’re doing homework at the bus stop before you go to school. And your socks are green today.”
“What-” you looked down at your feet, a little gasp escaping your lips at the sight of neon green socks, “I was running late today...I guess I forgot to put my yellow socks on.” You looked up at him again, starting to blush at the realization that he knew. But you decided not to bring it up, instead you cleared your throat and began to speak, “Where does the 4419 take you? I assume you don’t go to school…”
He startled a bit, seemingly thrown off by your question, “I go to the JYP building. I’m a trainee there…” He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding making eye contact with you.
“Oh! That’s really cool! Judging by the music you listen to, you’re a super hardcore rapper, right?”
“Y...You pay attention to the music I listen to?”
Without even thinking, you responded, “I pay attention to everything you do.”
And that was the start of your relationship with Changbin. You learned his name at the back of the bus that day, having followed him back there in the middle of your conversation about what being a trainee was like. He shared his earbuds with you, seemingly in an attempt to make you go deaf with how loud the music played. You would snatch his phone and play a song from your playlist in return, having to cover your mouth to stifle your laughter when he started doing the choreography to Cheer Up. You would let him sleep on your shoulder during rough mornings, when he had stayed up too late practicing and only slept for 2 hours. And he would help you study for tests, flipping over flashcards you had made the week before.
Your friendship worked so well because you both noticed the little things. When you approached him at the bus stop, standing in front of him with your toes touching, he knew you got a good test score that you wanted to boast about. And when he waited for you impatiently, his eyes looking everywhere except for the pavement in front of him, you knew that he wanted to talk about his latest evaluation. It’s like the two of you didn’t even need words to communicate.
Which is why you knew exactly when he started to develop feelings for you. You had already embraced the love for Changbin you held in your heart, and you would admit to it if he asked. But he never did.
It was a simple thing, really. The two of you stepped onto the bus, quickly walking down the aisle. You were in front of him, and you went to take the second seat from the window like you always did. But that day, he shook his head, “You can take the window seat. It’s raining.” You stared up at him, noticing the difference in the way his eyes looked. Usually, when the two of you made eye contact, he would keep his steely gaze or smile broadly at you. But this time, his eyes were soft, like he was cooing over a video of a puppy greeting their owner after a long day.
You shifted over one seat, not taking your eyes off of Changbin as he took the seat next to you. You inhaled slowly, trying to calm your racing heartbeat. At this point, it was obvious that he liked you, and you were sure he knew of your feelings. All that was left was...to make a move. And maybe letting you have the window seat was Changbin’s idea of a first move, but that wasn’t direct enough for you. You turned your head to gaze out the window, admiring the grey sky and the sea of umbrellas on the sidewalk below. Your hand raised from your lap to fall onto Changbin’s hand, lacing your fingers together without any signs of timidness. You heard the quiet, “Oh,” that he whispered before squeezing your hand.
Your relationship worked so well because you didn’t need words to speak to each other. There were no official dates and nobody asked the other to be their partner. It just came naturally to the two of you. You both understood what the other wanted, and gave it to them without asking questions.
One rainy Thursday, you approached the bus stop, locking eyes with a pacing Changbin. Once he saw you, he rushed over, pulling you under the awning and handing you his phone. Looking down at the screen, you noticed it was open to the music app. A song called Hellevator was loaded up, and there was no cover art.
“What is this?”
“I’ve got a group now, (Name). That’s our song.”
Your eyes widened as you looked from Changbin to the phone, then back to him. He had never said anything about a group. Sure, you’ve heard about all of his friends in the company, but he never said how close he was to debuting. You put in one of the earbuds, but didn’t press play.
“I never said anything before because I didn’t know if the project was going to fall through or not. But look, it’s real! It’s here! Listen to it.”
So you did. Of course Changbin was good. You had listened to many a 3RACHA song during bus rides. But this was something else. It was more polished than anything 3RACHA had done before, and there were more people, more voices.
During the bridge, you made eye contact with Changbin again, and you could see just how badly he wanted you to like the song; there was a sort of desperation in his gaze. You couldn’t help but to nearly launch yourself at him, arms looping around his center as you squealed praises into his chest. You could feel in the way he held onto you that he was relieved; that your opinion was something he had worried about.
When you finally let go, you spoke again, “I can’t wait for you to be a hotshot K-pop star. Promise you’ll buy me tickets to all of your concerts?”
He chuckled, an arm around your shoulders, “I’ll make sure they’re front row seats, so I can always look down and see my pop of sunshine.”
Your relationship with Changbin somehow managed to work after his debut. You didn’t need to see each other all the time to stay happy. Whenever the two of you would meet up, you’d be able to see it in his eyes that he still loved you. That was good enough for you.
And you would show up to all of his concerts and fan meetings, a pop of yellow in a sea of fans. He would always see you; how could he miss you? The ray of sunshine in his life standing in the front row, waving a slogan around and staring up at him with adoring eyes. That was good enough for him.
