Jaebum was walking down the street late at night after his shift at a nearby cafe. He strolled along down the familiar route towards home, taking in the brisk fall air and sounds of the bustling city at night. His walk home from work was the most relaxing time of his day. He didn't have to deal with people or anything disturbing him, and he uses the stroll as a relaxation mechanism. His hands were buried deep in his letterman jacket as the cool night breeze hit him, reminding him of the changing weather with its cold chill.
He finally turned down the street where he lived, his apartment building not that far down it. As he walked he came up on the alleyway between his building and the building just next door where they usually keep their trash bins. He was just walking by when he heard a loud noise, almost like a crashing sound. It startled Jaebum, making him jump in his skin. Usually people would walk faster or completely ignore it and run away, but Jaebum was the type to just stop in his tracks when startled. He peered down the dark alleyway, his eyes not adjusting too well to the lack of light. He tried to see what could've made that noise, and initially, he saw nothing.
'Maybe just a raccoon?' He thought. Though just moments after he brushed the noise off as a wild animal of the night, he heard a groan coming from one of the trash bins.
Jaebum knew that approaching a weird trash bin at night was an absolutely terrible idea, but his curiosity got the best of him. He took just a few steps closer, still taking the precaution of keeping a few feet between himself and the bin. He waited for whatever it was to show itself, the bin shaking and nearly toppling over as something— no, someone climbed out of it. Jaebum was a bit relieved that it wasn't an animal but an actual human being, but he was still wary of the fact that this guy literally just crawled out of a trash bin.
Or at least, he tried to. Jaebum watched the man pathetically try to pull himself out, but he was in a pretty awkward position, so he kept sinking back in. Jaebum would've laughed at him if the situation wasn't so strange, but all he could do was silently stare.
"What the fuck..." the guy mumbled frustratedly, beginning to thrash around violently to get himself out.
Jaebum sighed, shaking his head. This sight was truly pathetic. "Yo, dude, why the hell are you in a garbage can?"
Jaebum had caught the guy's attention, their eyes locking for a brief minute in realization of one another. Then the man in the trash scoffed, shaking his head as if he were disgusted by Jaebum's existence. "Ugh, get away from me."
Jaebum raised his hands innocently. "Hey, you're the one in the trash, I'm just confused about why you're there."
The man was quiet, looking away from Jaebum as if he were embarrassed of the reason why he was in a trash bin. "...I fell."
Jaebum's brows furrowed. That made no sense at all, who just falls into a trash bin? "What? You fell into a garbage can?"
The man clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Yes, that's what I just fucking said. Is there a problem?"
"Besides the fact that that's pretty much impossible? No, carry on with your weird dumpster diving fetish or whatever." Jaebum responded, spinning on his heels to head back to his apartment as he had no time to deal with such foolishness.
There was a sudden sound of movement behind Jaebum as he walked away before that voice called out to him. "Can you help me out?"
Jaebum stopped, glancing back at the stuck man in the garbage. "I thought you wanted me to go away?"
The strange guy sighed, obviously not a fan of asking Jaebum for his assistance. "...after you assist me."
Jaebum shook his head, actually chuckling a bit. The situation was funny, and never once did it cross Jaebum's mind that he would ever be helping some random guy out of a trash bin he allegedly 'fell' in. But there he was, turning to reach his hand out for the stranger to grab and pull him out. There's a first for everything, Jaebum guessed.
Jaebum watched the man stand up fully, perfect posture and surprisingly tall stature. It was hard to tell what the guy looked like with his body squished inside of a garbage bin, but seeing him now, he was in pretty good shape. He looked over to Jaebum as he brushed dirt off of his weird clothing consisting of a white cloth, with white cloth pants and sandals.
"Thanks..." he mumbled, though there was no true feeling in it. He didn't mean it at all.
Jaebum decided to still be polite though, despite this guy's attitude. "No problem. Just quit smoking whatever the hell your high on."
The strange man made a face of disgust, giving another roll of his eyes. "I'm not high, I would never become intoxicated with such foul substances."
Jaebum hated this guy's attitude. He'd been trying to have patience, but it was quickly wearing thin. "Oh, so now you're using big words to show how smart you are huh."
"You just can't comprehend my level of speech. Should I 'dumb it down' for you?" The man asked, looking at Jaebum as if he were dirt under his shoe.
Jaebum scoffed, truly done with this guy's bullshit. "I can't believe some guy I pulled out of a dumpster is insulting my intelligence. Man get a life."
"I have a life. Much better than yours, and anyone else on this ugly planet, honestly. I just... have to get back to it..." he mumbled the last part, as if he didn't want Jaebum to hear him say it.
Jaebum couldn't care less about what he had to say anymore, he was removing himself from this conversation, as he just didn't have the time or patience to continue it. "Yeah whatever garbage guy. Enjoy your great life."
"Ugh, humans are the worse." The stranger stated as Jaebum turned to walk away.
Jaebum looked back, finding the statement ridiculous. "That's an interesting thing to say considering that you are one."
"I'm not a human. I'd never want to be one. Disgusting creatures." The guy replied, shaking his head
"Sure, whatever you say." Jaebum was sure that he'd just ran into a crazy dude or someone drunk after coming from a toga party. Whichever it was, he wasn't gonna get himself involved. He continued walking, not glancing back even though he wanted to to avoid giving that guy the satisfaction of his attention."He's high on something..." he mumbled to himself with a shake of his head. Jaebum walked into his apartment building, passing through the lobby to the elevator.
"Hey Jaebum." The security gaurd greeted, tipping his hat to him.
"Hi Youngjae." Jaebum greeted back with a sigh.
Youngjae furrowed his brows, noticing Jaebum's weird attitude. "You okay?"
Jaebum nodded, flashing a smile at the gaurd. "I'm fine. Just a... very unexpected night."
"Okay." Youngjae responded, not pushing any further. He waved as he watched Jaebum hop into the elevator. "Have a good night."
Jaebum waved back just before the elevator door closed. He let out a breath, leaning against the wall. He was mentally and physically drained from his entire day, and the conversation he had just moments ago with trash bin guy didn't help at all. He headed up to his place to sleep and to gladly forget the weird night he's had.
