Un-Breaking Up
Request: i’m not sure if your request are still open honestly it’s my first time requesting ever. do you think you could do one of 10, and 13 with changbin, they were exes and something happened either one could say 10 and then they get stuck together, idk this was a big brain fart
- 10) “Was it worth it?”
- 13) Oh no! There's only one bed!
Pairing: Stray Kids Changbin x Reader
Genre: Angst (with a happy ending)
"What do you mean there's only one room left?" you hissed into your cell phone.
"They overbooked for the weekend," Chan sighed on the other end of the line. "We reserved the rooms when you and Bin were still together."
"And I told you I would pay the extra to get my own room," you groaned. This could not be happening.
When you had agreed to go on this friend-cation, you had been blissfully wrapped in the throes of love.
Now, you were stranded at the airport with a headache and an ex-boyfriend hailing a cab.
"It would have been nice for you to tell me he was on the same flight by the way," you scoffed.
"You literally booked the flights together-"
"You said he was going to change them to come in earlier! With you!"
"I thought he was!" Chan gasped. "Look, if you can't suck it up and be an adult for five minutes-"
"It's a twenty-minute drive," you pouted.
"And rooms are already sorted, so you guys are just going to have to figure it out," he sighed. You could almost hear him, miles away, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Can't he like...stay on your pull-out couch?" you hedged. "I'm sure your partner won't-"
"Oh, they will very much mind," Chan chuckled. "Plus, Changbin paid his portion just like everyone else. He's not getting downgraded to my loveseat."
"He's small enough to fit damn near anywhere," you muttered.
"Y/N," Chan said slowly, careful to keep his annoyance reigned in. "We'll see you soon, okay?"
"Just say you hate me," you complained. You knew you were being dramatic, but you were in too deep to turn back now. It really wasn't your intention to be a brat, but you and Changbin hadn't seen each other in weeks. Your friends had inadvertently become children of divorce, so you knew Chan didn't deserve the grief you were giving him.
"If by hate you mean love," he said cheerfully. "Now get your butt here. I'll see you in the morning."
Rolling your eyes, you hung up the call and shoved your phone in your pocket. Turning on your heel, you marched over to where Changbin was shoving suitcases into the back of a taxi.
"Everything okay?" he huffed, pushing the very last of the luggage into the trunk. "What did Chan say?"
"That you've been invited to sleep on his pullout couch," you smiled brightly.
"They couldn't get us separate rooms," you muttered, crossing your arms. "And we have to make do."
Changbin's eyebrows shot up. "I'll pay the difference."
"Tried that," you sighed. "They literally have no more room."
"They always have more room," Changbin grumbled, yanking his phone out of his pocket. "Even if it's an executive suite."
"By all means," you hummed, sliding into the back of the waiting car. "If you think you can do something literally no one else could, go ahead."
Choosing not to acknowledge your comment, Changbin joined you in the backseat. Careful to keep a sufficient space barrier between the two of you, he informed the driver of your destination before getting on the phone with what you assumed to be the hotel concierge.
No matter how charming he could be, the fifteen minutes he spent on the phone yielded no results. As he hung up, you could see how ruffled he was. Leaning his head against the window of the taxi, he slowly exhaled.
"Let me guess?" you remarked. "No matter how much money you threw at the problem, it didn't work?"
Taking a deep breath, he swiveled toward you. "I was just trying to help-"
"No one asked," you said sharply. "I tried to fix the problem and couldn't. So did Chan. I don't know why you thought you could come in and save the day-"
"You used to like it when I saved the day," he bristled.
You knew you weren't being fair and simply picking at him just for the sake of picking. "I used to like you in general, but here we are."
Changbin closed his eyes and leaned back into the seat. Luckily, the hotel was already coming into sight. Unluckily, you would still be stuck together for the next few days.
"Shit," Changbin said, stepping into the hotel room.
Yanking your suitcase over the lip of the door, you made your way into the room, stopping just behind him. "What-"
The words were erased from your tongue as you took in your surroundings. The room was gorgeous, and admittedly, pretty romantic. You were greeted by a small seating area and a low table decorated with rose petals and snacks. Looking further into the room, you could see you had your own private pool outside, intimate and moody with low lighting. The thing you had avoided recognizing though was perhaps the most obvious.
"Perfect," you croaked, completely exhausted by this whole situation. "Absolutely perfect."
"My guess is," you said slowly. "That they are so fully booked, that they won't be able to move us to a room with two queens."
"But you don't know that for sure," he said with a small nod, trying to convince himself. "I'll go to the front desk."
"Knock yourself out," you sighed, leaning against the wall to begin sliding slowly down it. It was time to accept defeat. "Better yet actually knock yourself out."
Changbin shot you a dirty look as he yanked the door open and disappeared from sight.
Too bad he was back within ten minutes.
"Let me guess," you smirked. "They are fully booked and won't be able to move us to a room with two queens?"
"You don't have to gloat," he pouted, plopping on the edge of the bed. Looking helplessly around the room, his focus landed on the two armchairs in the seating area (very much not a normal, pull-out couch.) "I can just make a pallet on the floor."
You felt a small pang in your chest. As much as you didn't want to admit you had any threads of care left for the man in front of you, you did. And unfortunately, you didn't want to condemn him to sleeping on the floor. "That wouldn't be fair to you."
"It is what it is," he sighed. "And I'm not going to subject you to laying in a bed with me when you don't even want us to be in the same room."
"Stop being dramatic," you scoffed, totally projecting. "We can make a pillow barrier. Plus, I really don't want to hear you complain and make me into the bad guy."
"Y/N," he groaned. "It's not like that."
You chewed on your lip, knowing it wasn't. Changbin had honestly been much more charitable than you had even tried being since the two of you had broken up. You had pinned most of the reasons for separating on him, so maybe he had taken it to heart.
Choosing to ignore his protests, you began to unpack instead. Leaving the top two drawers in the dresser open for him (a habit from when you were dating) you silently moved your clothing and essentials to various parts of the room.
"Do you mind if I shower first?" he asked. His tone was careful, as if he was waiting for you to explode.
"Go for it," you answered.
He moved quietly toward the bathroom, leaving you with only your thoughts as you heard the click of the lock.
Moving toward the bed, you shoved your face into a pillow to let loose a mix between a groan and scream. Sometimes it just helped to make nonsensical sounds when you were feeling frustrated.
It was difficult being around Changbin again. Even though the two of you had broken up, there were feelings there. You had been so desperately in love with him at one point, you just assumed you would be a little bit in love forever. You thought the two of you had been bulletproof, but in one evening of anger, you managed to break both your heart and his (and still clung to the rationalization that it was all his fault).
You knew who he was when you had started dating. Seo Changbin, member of Stray Kids, producer in 3racha, gym rat, and lastly, boyfriend. All of those things came first, and you were so, so tired of being the last checkbox on the list. After being cancelled on for maybe the hundredth time because there was some sort of work emergency, you had had enough. His things were waiting in boxes when he had eventually shown up, and you had endless reasons for why you didn't want to continue forward.
When he begged, you had shut him down. Looking back now, you knew it was because you were afraid. It was easier to have a hard break than admit that you were both flawed people who weren't trying hard enough. It was easier than actually making the effort and being uncomfortable. You werent't ready for that advanced level of vulnerability.
Changbin was one of the softest and squishiest individuals you had ever met, which made it even harder. Any form of neglect he had stumbled into subjecting you to had never came with a hard edge. When he apologized, he was genuinely sorry. He was too good and pure to have to deal with you being upset over something he loved. He dreamt of being an idol before he even knew you existed. It would be the best for both of you if you just stopped interfering in his success.
Maybe the thing that hurt you the most though was seeing how it seemingly didn't affect him. He continued forward like nothing had happened, even treating you as a friend whenever you happened to run in the same circles. That was when you decided you couldn't like him, even if you loved him. It was easier to be annoyed than show how hurt it made you.
It was sick to say that you had wanted him to be just as miserable and lost as you were.
As you heard the water cut off, you pushed your face away from the pillow and took a deep breath. It was just a quick trip. You could be cordial for the sake of your friends.
You heard him before you saw him. With the phone glued to his ear, he was chuckling at someone on the other line. It was difficult not to ogle at the water droplets still decorating his shoulders and collar bone, even though he was technically fully dressed in a tank top and shorts.
"We need to redo the guide," he instructed. "I might be able to break away for a little bit and record something.
Yes, I know I'm on vacation, but we're already behind."
After a few more minutes of arguing, he hung up, and tossed his phone onto the bed.
You couldn't help yourself. "Was it worth it?"
"Hm?" he asked. You knew he had to pull himself out of his own thoughts before he could address yours.
"Was it worth it?" you repeated, crossing your arms.
"The shower?" he asked, lifting his brows and smiling his patented one-sided smirk. "Absolutely."
"No," you croaked. "Working. On vacations, in what's supposed to be your free time. Was it all worth it?"
He plopped on the edge of the bed, keeping his back to you. "We're talking past - past tense here...aren't we? Not the call I was just on."
Your silence was answer enough.
"I like to think it was," he said quietly, tilting his head to the side as he made a hissing noise to reprimand himself. "But as days go by, the more and more I wonder if I was wrong."
You chewed on your lip, not at all knowing what answer you had expected, but that wasn't it.
Looking over his shoulder, he slowly pivoted his body to face yours. His expression softened as he said quietly, "Is that why you hate me?"
Your jaw dropped open as you floundered for one of your knee-jerk, cutting responses. His face conveyed such helplessness.
"...I don't hate you, Changbin," you said quietly. Surely, he had to know that.
"I don't think I would blame you if you did," he chuckled sadly. "I put just about everything before you, didn't I?"
"It wasn't a matter of putting things before me," you said slowly. "It was a matter of putting things before us. We were supposed to be a team."
The old adage that time heals all wounds was at least proving itself to be slightly true. It was definitely easier to speak on how you were feeling now that you had put some space between yourself and the initial confrontation.
Changbin nodded slowly. "I wanted to be better."
You tried to take the ice out of your tone. "I did too."
"Then why didn't we try?" he asked, looking toward you with watery eyes.
You tried to focus on your breathing. If Changbin cried, you were absolutely going to cry.
"I thought...I thought that I had done so badly as a boyfriend," he continued. "And that's why you treated me like I was an inconvenience once we broke up."
"You were an inconvenience," you grumbled. "Only because I was still so upset...and you were acting like everything was okay between us."
"I don't know how to act otherwise!" he contended. "We broke up and I still loved you. Treating you any other way would have hurt my heart, and I'm too selfish to do that on top of what was already done."
"Huh," you hiccupped, feeling the tears come despite your best efforts. "I really goofed, didn't I?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, furrowing his brows.
"I was the one who did the breaking up, Bin," you said quietly. "I tried to tell myself I shouldn't feel bad because it was your fault. You were the one who was always gone, but I didn't try to talk to you about it. I let it become this completely...other thing inside of me. It was like every time you cancelled, I added it to this stack until it finally tumbled over."
"But I should have realized on my own," he asserted, standing up to move closer to you. Dropping to his knees in front of you, he gathered your hands in his. Looking up through his lashes, you could see the toll the last few months had taken on him.
You were foolish to think he wasn't suffering in the same way you were.
"We can blame ourselves all day," you sniffed, finally letting the tears run over your cheeks. "But it doesn't change the fact that we broke up...and now we're here."
"So we un-break up," he mused, saying it as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Un-break up?" you muttered.
"Mhm," he hummed, easing up from his knees to sit beside you. Wrapping an arm around your shoulders, he tucked you into his side.
"It's not that easy," you hiccupped, shaking your head but making no attempt to untangle your body from his.
"We're different people now, Bin," you maintained. "Do we even know if we can be that safe space for each other? It ended so poorly last time, and-"
"Because we let it!" he argued. "But we know now-"
"Do we?" you interrupted. "We don't actually know how to fix what happened. We walked away."
"And here we are, walking back," he chuckled, shaking his head. "We can try, really try...if you think it's worth it."
You chewed on your lip, looking toward him. His eyes were still a little puffy from his brief crying episode, but it was definitely the same Bin you had fallen in love with months ago. His dark hair was beginning to dry in its signature messy curls, and his even darker eyes watched you carefully. There was a fire there that had been extinguished for so long, seeing it again caused your heart to skip a beat. Now that you had opened the door, he would push as hard as possible to make his way back in.
"I may not be worth it," you laughed grimly. "But I know you are."
"I didn't know we were throwing a pity party," he teased. "I should have bought streamers."
"I take it back," you grumbled. "You aren't worth it."
Changbin's grin was wide as he wrapped his other arm around you and squeezed you tightly. "Of course, you're worth it, silly."
"So we're doing this," you whispered into his bare shoulder. The smell of his shower gel was still heavy on his skin, encouraging you to inhale deeply. For the first time in weeks, you felt at home.
"Hell yeah we are," he chimed. "We're going to do the shit out of this."
You laughed as you pulled away from him. You wanted to look into his eyes. He needed to understand.
"Starting now, we both promise to do better," you nodded slowly. He nodded along, eyes wide. "Which means, do you really have to work while you're here?"
He smirked, letting out a small chuckle. "Starting now, I am going to be so present in this relationship, you're going to get sick of me. You'll be begging for me to go to the studio."
"Somehow I doubt that," you sighed, lifting a hand to cradle his jaw. He tilted his face, nuzzling your palm before dropping a soft kiss there. "But I'm excited to see you try."