STRANGERS. binsung

alternate ending/after story/spin off

It had been a year since the thought of the infamous, undercut-having unconventional cliché had even crossed Jisung's mind; however, after a boring year with no mental blocks or inconveniences, he did begin to miss that feeling of yearning. Longing. Needing somebody to need himself. Or perhaps he just missed the constant state of delusion and distance he stood in, between the thick walls of reality and dreams.

So there he was again: sat between two long chains, slowly swinging back and forth, propelling himself up and down.

Although this time around, his hair was clean-cut and fresh, his lips slightly less chapped, the bags under his eyes not so prominent — and the smallest smile was evident on his face.

'I can't believe I liked that stupid guy,' Jisung snickered to his inner voice, innocently reminiscing, 'So pathetic. I could have handled that better.' His chin pointed towards the sky as he got deeper and deeper into thought about what things could have been.

'Maybe if I waited longer to tell him I liked him,' Jisung entertained the thought before quickly dismissing it with a chuckle. 'Nah, that wouldn't have done anything.'

Drip.

Rain. It was raining. Jisung wiped the droplet off of his cheek with the sleeve of his uniform. He did notice the sky was greying up, and this was the consequence of ignoring it for the sole sake of reminiscing. It was only sprinkling, though, so he figured he'd live.

Civilisation ceases in the pursuit of rain, so it wasn't surprising for Jisung to not see anybody walk by. Nobody likes to soak in the rain; especially for the sponges of society. It was refreshing. Jisung now considered the rain as a natural hose-down from the summer.

Then he met the eyes of a character — the character that hadn't even crossed his mind, that he didn't even give two shits about anymore — the character he forgot made him feel important.

Undercut waved. There were light spots of rain pattering onto his trousers, seeping into the fabric, but there was a hand-shaped patch on his side. Jisung, being polite, waved back. He watched as Undercut, uncharacteristically withdrawn, navigated the park carefully towards the swings and hoisted himself onto the one next to him.

"Jisung," Undercut smiled, his hair dampening at a quickening pace with each drop. His teeth were whiter than the last time Jisung had given his smile any thought.

In response, Jisung nodded. "Changbin." The name was unfamiliar on his tongue. It was bumpy. Rough. Disconnected.

Undercut's mouth was slightly agape, but he withdrew — his attention turned to the sky. "It's raining." 

Jisung hummed. "Yeah."

"Why are you here with such bad weather?"

Jisung mentally snorted at such parallels.

"I thought I had more time before the rain started." He continued swinging as he was prior to Undercut's arrival, paying half the mind he did before.

Undercut noticed and cleared his throat. "Did you... get a haircut?"

"Yeah." Jisung nodded.

Undercut's eyes wandered from Jisung's demeanour to his eyes to his cheeks to his jaw to his left ear. "You... got your ear pierced?"

A smile crept to Jisung's lips. "Nah, it's just a clip on. I do wanna get it pierced though."

"Why haven't you yet? You think it hurts?" Undercut feels the breeze pass through his face and the space between his fingers, followed by more and more rain.

Jisung sniggered. "Yeah? Why wouldn't it hurt?"

"I know it hurts, stupid," Undercut has a short laugh, proceeding to gesture dramatically towards his array of ear piercings. "The one that hurts the most is this one-" — he points to his 'anti tragus', the part of his ear between the inside bit and the lobe — "- but least painful has probably got to be the lobe."

"Oh, what about the industrial? I want an industrial." Jisung asks with haste, much alike to an excited child.

"Hmm... I'd say pain rating was a five out of ten. Not too bad, but I could still feel it."

It was at this point in the conversation that Jisung came to a halt in his brain. Undercut was no longer just a character — he was never just a character. Jisung was only treating him like one in his head. His pedestal was real, but Jisung was the one giving it its personal significance.

Changbin was a normal person. It felt good to not give a shit.

"Have you heard of those magnetic fake earrings? Do you think they'd actually hold throughout the day?" Changbin's hair was now fully soaked in the rain. To think black hair could darken any more.

Jisung stared up at the clouds, still prevailing in its dull colour, "Nah. I fiddle a lot so I'd probably nudge it ever so slightly that eventually it'd be off-centre and fall off."

"Yeah, wouldn't feel secure." Changbin trailed off, letting the pattering of the rain consume him.

The conversation had now reached silence. A comfortable one. The only sound traversing its waves was from the world around them: the busy town as it reached the evening; the rain constantly smacking the ground ever so gently; and the swings, creaking so gracefully since two kids were sat on them.

"Jisung, why are you here?"

Perplexed, Jisung met Changbin's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Were you thinking about me?"

No hesitation. The words came straight out of Changbin's mouth as if he was waiting for ages to say them.

"What..?" Now it was Jisung's turn to trail off, simply nonplussed at Changbin's state of simultaneous nonchalance and panic.

'Why am I here?' He had to ask himself once, then twice, then a third time.

"Jisung," Changbin repeated, "you were thinking about me, weren't you?"

This had to stop. "Look, I haven't even thought about you like that in a good year, and I certainly don't now." Jisung was firm. He couldn't let his progress slip just like that.

"Then why are you here?" Changbin's question had now horribly morphed into a plead, his eyes begging for a conclusive answer.

Or maybe just an answer he wanted to hear.

The swing skidded to a stop, the grip on the bottom of Jisung's shoes wearing away. He stood up with one swift motion. "You should go home now and dry off."

"Jisung—!" Changbin extended his arm out to grab the other's, but it was no use; Jisung had made up his mind about being confused.

Only one thing was for sure — he didn't want closure this time.