Dark to Baby: A Changjin Story

Chapter 40

"Hey! How's Mr. Van Gogh?" Hyunjin rolled his eyes at Changbin's opening bus statement. "I put your masterpiece on the fridge-"

"You did not!" Hyunjin sat up, staring at Changbin with wide eyes as he sat down beside him.

"Oh, I sure did! Minsoo insisted." Changbin said, a teasing smirk playing along his lips.

"Yeah, just blame the child. I bet it was all your idea." Hyunjin crossed his arms and turned to the window.

"Hey, come on! It wasn't that bad!" Changbin nudged Hyunjin's arm.

"It wasn't that bad!" Hyunjin mocked. "Last night you made fun of me for ten whole minutes!" 

Hyunjin could see Changbin's shoulders rise from the corner of his eye, bobbing silently to try and hide his laughter.

"See! You do think it's that bad!"

"Sorry, it's just, oh my gosh! Those legs were priceless! And its body was like a potato!" Changbin's laughter ripped through all the sounds on the bus, drawing unwanted attention to their conversation.

"Shut up!" Hyunjin whined, kicking at Changbin's shoe.

"I have to say, I think that's the first unicorn I've seen with two horns."

"I'm not talking to you anymore." Hyunjin turned back to the window and pouted at the frosted glass.

He wasn't really angry. If anything, he was happy about Changbin's newfound trust in him. He had learned so much about Changbin in one night, and he couldn't wait to learn more if Changbin would let him.

"Wait. If it's on the fridge, won't it look like Minsoo drew it and not me?" Changbin shook his head in pity at the hopeful boy.

"Minsoo's drawing is up there too, but she made sure to sign hers. Lucky for you, Felix is the only other outsider allowed in." Hyunjin wasn't sure if that was lucky or not. Felix was bound to make fun of him too.

"What about Chan?" Changbin's face grew ominous, and so did his voice.

"He is no longer accepted."

"Uh...okay? What did he do?"

"Oh, nothing. He just no longer needs to come to the house because Felix isn't there." Changbin gave him a tight-lipped smile.

Hyunjin had this feeling that Changbin was hiding something, but when was he not hiding something? It was a regular occurrence for his words to be vague.

Chan had said that Changbin only talked to him if it involved Felix, so it wasn't a surprise that he was being cut off. Honestly, before yesterday, Hyunjin thought he would be cut off too.

"Minsoo really likes you by the way." Changbin scooted closer to Hyunjin and began to play with the end of Hyunjin's sleeve. Hyunjin chuckled at the sudden cuteness.

"I really like Minsoo too." Changbin hummed and fully clutched Hyunjin's wrist, rubbing his thumbs up and down the bare skin.

"Bin? Something wrong?"

Changbin stared down at his hands that encircled Hyunjin's wrist before gently letting go and looking up with pure innocence in his eyes. He brought his hand up to Hyunjin's face, pinky finger extended.

"Take care of Binnie and Minsoo? Pinky promise?" Hyunjin lightly smiled and brought his own pinky up to link with Changbin's.

"Of course."

"No! You have to say 'pinky promise!'" A sigh escaped Hyunjin's mouth.

"Okay, I pinky promise." They locked pinkies, and Changbin giggled.