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collisvng · 9 months ago

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CHAPTER 3 | TWO BADDIES, TWO BADDIES, ONE DENNY’S

THE END ZONE 🏈🩰✨

Pairing 🤎 Seo Changbin x Fem! Reader︎

Genre 🤎 SMAU, University/College AU, Ballett/Football AU, Fluff, Angst, Crack—all of that good shit lol︎

Synopsis 🤎 By recommendation of his coach, Changbin decides to take a ballet class in order to improve his agility and coordination on the field. It seems like a harmless and fun activity at first. But what happens when his ballet partner starts to make him choose between the two?

Warnings 🤎 Brief mentions of food/eating, alluding to weight/eating insecurities, mentions of jealousy, slight swearing

Taglist 🤎 Open!︎ ✨

Word Count 🤎 3,102

In Collaboration With 🤎 @channie-143

✨️MASTERLIST✨️

“THANK YOU!”

You smiled at the sweet, middle-aged lady who had brought you and Changbin your food.

After a 30-minute freak-out over the fact that Changbin decided he was going to pick you up, you found yourself at Denny’s sitting across from the curly-haired man smiling like a complete idiot.

You were on your 15th question now. After deciding that things would be easier if one of you just asked a question and then both answered it, things seemed to be going a lot smoother. By now you had found out whether or not he liked pineapple pizza (he doesn’t), the last concert he went to (he saw Day6 live), how he had his first kiss when he was 13 (it was at homecoming), and various other things about him that for some reason just made sense.

You guys answered most of your questions in the car on the drive over. And the whole ordeal with Changbin picking you up from your dorm sent Felix into retrograde.

When Bin arrived at your dorm Felix was the one to answer the door. He smiled, estranged to his friend’s presence but happy for the surprise nonetheless. He felt so enthralled that his friend had come to visit him out of the blue. But the moment you walked out in your oversized sweater and yoga pants telling Changbin that you were ready, it all seemed to click.

As you hopped into your ballet partner’s Escalade and the both of you drove off, Felix simply stood at your guys’ door with his mouth agape in bewilderment at the fact you just left him there without even so much as a last-second invitation.

It was kinda hilarious. And a great conversation starter.

“Alright, we have five questions left,” you stated as you picked up a fry off your plate. “It’s your turn.”

Changbin cocked his head to the side. “You got that instead of a milkshake?”

“Really? That’s your question?”

“No, sorry…” His voice trailed off as he chuckled. “I’m just surprised, that's all.”

You stared down at your little green smoothie; swirling it around with your straw, watching the extremely tiny pieces of spinach go round and round. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged. “Just expected you to get something different I guess.”

“Thought I was going to get something a little more…” you tapped the glass of his strawberry milkshake and smirked, “pink?”

He smiled and looked down at his shake, moving his straw back and forth in an attempt to not blush. “Maybe.”

When the waiter came back with your guys’ food, you watched as Changbin dipped one of his fries in his shake and winced at his questionable combination. He was weird. So weird. But the little laugh he let out when he witnessed you scrunch your nose somehow turned that weirdness into something infatuating.

“Alright,” you repeated, glancing down at the food in front of you before once again giving the man in front of you your full attention, “like I said before, we have five questions left. It’s your turn to ask something. Go.”

“Oooh, okay…” Changbin grabbed another fry and tapped it against his chin. “Um… what is something that you hate?”

“Oh that’s easy,” you nodded. “I hate when people are late. It causes me so much anxiety, especially when people are late for important things… Completely drives me insane.”

“Didn’t you say Han used to always be late? Wasn’t he your dance partner?”

“Yeah. And considering that you’re sitting in front of me right now instead of him, we can both see how that’s going.”

“Right, got it,” Changbin said, giving you a quick nod as he bit the fry that was still in his hand. “Never be late or else the pretty girl gets angry. Noted.”

You chewed on your bottom lip a bit in an attempt to mask the grin that was ever so starting to appear on your lips. Changbin was always so casual with his flirting as if saying sweet things were like his second nature. It was evident he knew how much it flustered you as well considering his smize. You promised yourself you’d get him back for that later.

“Shut up… Your turn to answer.”

He cracked his neck to the side.

“Ah, I feel like mine isn’t that bad,” he shrugged. “I just hate it when people over-repeat themselves. If I’ve already heard what you said the first one to two times, why keep going? Just tap me on the shoulder or something and ask if I understood you before you start rambling. It's not that hard.”

You raised your brow. “You know Han has a bad habit of doing that too, right?”

He paused.

“I have a feeling your friend is going to drive us both crazy in this class.”

“He’s my best friend, it’s to be expected at this point.”

Changbin quietly giggled, making your heart race against your will. You shied away, staring down at the table in front of you and thanking the heavens that your hair was down or else the tips of your ears would surely give you away.

There was a small PING! that came from Changbin’s phone that caught your attention. Your eyes briefly flickered to the screen that lay face-up near his elbow and caught heed of a text that lit up the screen.

Just as soon as the screen lit up, it dimmed. But by the time his screen had gone black, your thoughts were all over the place. Changbin was so busy scarfing down his burger that he hadn’t realized you were staring at the notification as long as you had been. Your mind was confused. In all this time the both of you had practiced together over the week, he had never once mentioned having a partner. But who else would he have listed on his phone like that? And also, why did you care?

It wasn’t until your dinner (definitely not a—) date leaned over the table a bit and asked if you were okay that you finally broke out of your haze.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Sorry…”

“You sure? I lost you there for a second.”

“I was just…” you had to think of the right thing to say, “... trying to figure out what to ask for the next question. But I think I got it.”

“Ask away.” He lifted his milkshake up to his lips and took a sip.

You sighed. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

If Changbin’s immediate choking wasn’t evident enough, he wasn’t prepared for that kind of question. So you backtracked.

“Or I mean… partner? If you’re into that, maybe? I don’t know. I’m so sorry—”

“I wasn’t expecting that,” he heaved and rested a hand on his chest. “What makes you think I would be dating anyone right now?”

A grimace tattooed itself onto your face as a sudden cringe feeling sat in your gut due to what you were about to admit to.

“I just figured I’d ask,” you shrugged. “I saw the notification on your phone so I just thought…”

He frowned, grabbed his phone off of the table, and clicked one of the side buttons to turn it back on. Once he saw the name on the screen, his confusion turned into fondness.

“Oh, this?” He turned the phone to you. “That’s just my friend Wooyoung. I have his contact like that for personal reasons.”

“You save your friends’ names in your phone like that?”

“You don’t?”

“I have Seugnmin’s name saved in my phone as ‘Seungmin.’” You retorted, laughing in disbelief. “No, I don’t.”

He pouted. “Sooooo… what do you have me saved as then?”

You raised your brow. “Does this count as one of your questions?”

“Now it does.”

You laughed, pulling out your phone from your pocket and began going through your contacts until you landed on his name. A disappointed look from your dance partner is what you were met with when you turned your screen around to just reveal the word “Changbin” along with the words “from ballet class” in parenthesis next to it.

“You didn’t change my contact name after I put it in your phone?” He questioned, letting his own despondency show more than he had hoped.

You shook your head. “No… was I supposed to?”

Changbin pouted; he was clearly hoping for more. It almost made you feel bad.

“And what do you have me saved as?” You asked, slightly curious.

He quickly mimicked you; scrolling through his contacts until he found your number and flipped his phone so that the screen was facing you.

You rolled your eyes as soon as you saw the words:

“Boss Lady 🫡🩰✨”

“Really?” You rubbed the bridge of your nose, squeezing your eyes shut in disdain. “Changbin, I told you before to stop calling me that. Also, is it just a thing for you? You know, to put a shit ton of emojis at the end of people’s names in your contacts?”

“Do you not?!” He raised his voice slightly, leaning over the diner table as if to insist his way of doing things was obviously the correct way.

“Once again, NO!” You shot back, laughing harder now then you had before. “I mean… Felix’s name in my phone is pretty normal, but I have some people’s names saved weirdly I guess. Minho’s name in my phone is just saved as ‘Min-whore’. And I have Han saved as ‘Minho’s boyfriend,’ so…”

Changbin frowned. “Wait… is Han a little…”

He flicked his wrist, causing you to snort in response.

“Please! That guy’s been trying to get laid by a girl since the moment he stepped foot on campus,” you wiped a tear away from one of your eyes. Laughing this hard seemed so foreign to you. “If he was a little fruity none of us would be surprised, but no—he and Lino are just friends. They’ve been inseparable since orientation so our friend group has a habit of teasing them for it.”

“Ah, that makes more sense.”

You nodded. “He even tried to ask me out once.”

Changbin’s eyes widened in response and your nodding became even more vigorous.

“Oh I know! It was cute though, to be honest. We’d had a few classes together and he'd always been so nervous around me. Then one night the kid came up to me at a party freshman year and asked if I was seeing anyone. I had to let him down easy and he just immediately apologized and asked if we could still be friends. Now he and Felix are like my other halves.”

“What made you say no?”

“He’s not really my type,” you shrugged as if it was the most obvious answer ever.

Changbin picked out a piece of lettuce from his burger and put it in his mouth as if to remind himself that his food was still in front of him.

“Wait, so what’s your type then?” He asked nonchalantly, a smirk trying to fight its way onto his lips.

You sucked in a breath, gritting your teeth.

“Well you see, I would answer that question… But you already wasted your question and now it’s my turn, sooo…”

Watching your dance partner press his tongue to the inside of his cheek in annoyance brought you a sense of joy you hadn’t felt in a while. You giggled at the unexpected feeling of power, having a sudden surge of energy course through your body.

“Anyways,” you smiled. “My question, my turn.”

Changbin finally grabbed hold of the burger on his plate and took a bite out of it. He sighed as he were a man starved, eyes practically rolling into the back of his head as he chewed his food. You stared down at your plate; a set of 8 boneless wings smothered in buffalo sauce stared back at you.

In theory, eating in public wasn’t bad. But it was something that you preferred doing within the company of friends. You never felt judged by Felix, Han, Hyunjin, or Minho when you went out. Sometimes Seungmin would make a joke here and there whenever you did something as silly as spilling on yourself or ordering wrong. But, it was always in good fun.

Changbin didn’t seem like a judgmental person. If anything he seemed the exact opposite. But he was also a new-ish person. And that alone made you contemplate whether or not you were going to attempt to eat more than just a fry or two in front of him. But you couldn’t bring yourself to. So you just proceeded to ask your question instead.

“What made you want to join the football team?”

He smiled, setting his burger back onto his plate. He finished chewing before speaking. “Well you see…”

His answer was longer than you expected, although you didn’t mind. He went on to explain how he grew up being insecure about his weight. He didn’t mind how he looked, but wanted to feel better about his body and how he presented himself. So in high school he took it upon himself to do some research and try different things. He excelled in his anatomy and P.E. classes, which eventually became the reason he decided that kinesiology was what he wanted to study in college.

“The classes are actually really fun,” he explained. “We spend most of the time in the gym on campus in order to stimulate our body and learn about our strengths and weaknesses. Then for homework, we’re supposed to write reflections about our strength and conditioning methods. I’m basically knocking out my degree just by going to the gym, which I already do anyways so it’s great!”

He continued, expressing how much football took part in his weight-gaining journey. Bulking up was heavily encouraged, which Changbin was super enthusiastic about. And it was easier to do since he had begun taking nutrition classes for his major and knew what foods would be beneficial to him. He began going on a mini tangent about the different types of foods that were great for helping build muscle mass and which exercises were good to accompany them with, but then paused once he realized he was losing track of the topic at hand.

“Sorry,” he blushed. Your heart swelled a little when he shied away and let his gaze wander down to his own lap to avoid eye contact. “The point is, football seemed like a fun activity and it not only benefited me in terms of my major but also just in general. It’s helped me a lot with my confidence and has helped me meet a lot of good people. I’m really grateful to be a part of my team.”

The grin on your face was hard to hide, although the faltering behind it was less obvious. You felt happy but jealous of Changbin for many reasons in that moment. Being a dancer, especially in your field, was particularly hard. Body type was a big deal in ballet, or at least it was to you. Being a dance major had always made it extra hard to stop worrying about your body. Your teachers and the artistic staff in the dance department had always alluded that the thinner you are, the better off you are… especially in ballet.

It led to you being insecure about your body; something you had been working on more and more since you started living with Felix. He was always making sure you ate, drank water, and were taking care of yourself. It was one of the reasons why he had gotten in trouble numerous amount of times for smuggling food into the practice room. And soon became one of the reasons Minho had often tried to set up small dinner gatherings at his and Han’s dorm, along with why Seungmin would always try to drag you out on In-N-Out trips with him.

You guys were the same, but also not. While you were struggling to lose weight, Changbin was trying hard to gain weight. Eating affected the both of you in different ways. And as much as you felt proud of him for achieving his goal, there was a stinging feeling in your gut; a sort of longing for the same notion of accomplishment he had that you knew you’d never get. And it hurt.

But you couldn’t tell him that.

“I’m happy for you,” the smile on your face became weaker. “I’m glad you’re comfortable with who you’ve become and the people you’ve surrounded yourself with. That’s a big deal.”

You could feel the burning feeling of salt water prickling from your tear ducts and prayed that it wasn’t obvious that your eyes were starting to glass over. But it was. And you hoped Changbin wouldn’t ask you anything about ballet, because if he did you were sure the dam you were holding back would finally break.

Luckily, he was smart enough to catch on that something was wrong and decided to change the subject instead. Sometimes, men are smart.

“Alright, last question…”

He stared at you, observing every inch of your face. He looked concerned, intrigued, and caring all at once. So much so, that it became your turn to finally shy away from him. He beamed slightly, feeling proud in the way he was able to make you smile once again even if you weren’t able to bring yourself to look at him. Which made his question even easier to ask.

“… Why did you say yes to hanging out with me tonight?”

You chuckled, sniffling a bit before letting your eyes meet his again. Then after a moment or two, you shrugged.

“I don’t know. Something about you just feels nice,” you stated truthfully. “You seem fun.”

“Fun? As in ‘your type’ kind of fun?”

“Now I never said that…”

Changbin’s giggle was followed by your own as the both of you laughed at your own banter for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, things calmed down and you spent the rest of the night discussing regular, mundane topics. You were thankful he didn’t bring up the fact you had almost cried earlier and didn’t quite know how to express your unspoken gratitude. You were more sure than ever now that he was a big sweetheart. And that gave you all the confidence you needed.

It was peaceful.

It was comfortable.

It felt safe.

As you watched Changbin scarf down another fry before taking an additional bite of his burger, you let out a sigh you hadn't realized you'd been holding in.

And finally, you let yourself eat.