Stray Kids Imagines

🔞Kim Seungmin ✧ Night Train

It was with some reluctance that you made your way down the steps to the subway that night. The mere idea of the long commute home was always excruciating so late at night, but especially so at the end of what turned out to have been a very long week. All you could think of was tearing off your clothes, wrapping up in your sheets, and cozying up with your laptop. Living life to the finest degree, you'd say.

Standing on the platform, you fumbled with your headphone cords as you waited for the train to arrive. All was quiet, save for that subtle and distant echoes throughout the vast subway tunnel.

When the train finally made its approach, you didn't hear anything through the melody playing directly into your eardrums. Headphones are the most important piece of the modern-day commuter's uniform, after all; no self-respecting person would dare endure public transport without being able to properly block out the people around them.

The doors opened, and invited you on board. You stepped into an empty car. Despite the overwhelming selection of empty seats, you sat down in the seat right next to the door. You had a clear view of the next car in front of you, and as you peered through the window, you imagined stories for the few people occupying the space.

A tired young woman with frazzled hair and exhausted features fought through a yawn. She was almost definitely contemplating the execution of a murder-suicide deal with her two obnoxious kids spinning around the metal pole in front of her.

An older gentleman frowned through the white scruff salt-and-peppering his cheeks as he peered down, pretending to read the newspaper in his hands. As he adjusted his furry hat, he may have wondered how his ex-wife was doing and why his daughter never calls anymore.

A dark-haired man in a black dress coat was playing intently with the phone between his legs. The messages on the screen painted a perpetual smirk on his face. Dressed like that, he was probably on his way to a snazzy date with a pretty girl.

The subway operator's voice sang out a series of names and directives as the train approached each station. One-by-one, the passengers in the other car stood obediently to the sound of her siren song and disembarked from the train.

Your eyes wandered out to the platform and watched them trudge grudgingly towards the inevitable winter cold awaiting them at the surface. The doors whooshed shut, and they disappeared forever.

Looking back, you noticed the dark-haired man was still at his perch directly opposite you. He too was staring out at the passing darkness, absent-mindedly twirling his phone around with one hand between his legs. You discreetly traced the edge of his jawline with your eyes. He must have felt your gaze for as you reached his temples, he turned back to face in your direction. His intense, dark eyes found yours for a moment before you were able to look elsewhere, pretending to have been in the process of scanning your entire field of view.

You felt yourself blush all the same for being spotted. He ran his free hand through his hair, and tugged at his scarf while looking down at his phone that did not require any actual attention. Though his head was down, you didn't doubt that he was grinning.

As the next station materialized from beyond the obscurity of the tunnel, he stood up. You felt an odd sense of disappointment realizing that this would be the end of the line for their non-encounter.

You looked down at your phone, scrolling through the infinite playlist of songs you had heard too many times before. You assumed that the doors had closed because you felt the lurch of the train's inertia shift beneath you once more. When you looked up, you realized that he was now standing in front of you. There was a soft determination growing behind his eyes.

'Why isn't he saying anything?' you wondered, 'Why don't I say something?'

Inexplicably speechless, you cautiously tugged the headphones from your ears. It was always stifling underground, but there was an unfamiliar heat beginning to burn from somewhere deep inside you.