Burnout ⊗ Jeongchan

④① Entropy

The crew celebrated and by the next morning, Chan disappeared like he was some grand magician about to pull the words greatest trick. According to what the crew said, their leader needed to 'take care of business outside of town' for a few days and that he would be back but a lack of contact left his mind to wander far.It's been four days. Four days since he last saw the older, four days since he'd been sleeping in the shop, and four days since the rumors first reached him. That means, four days Jeongin was left completely to himself. Four days left completely to the mercy of a tempestuous mind he hadn't yet learned to navigate.

"As paraphrased from Nietzsche, 'The snake which cannot cast it's skin has to die'."

Jeongin nodded off to the teacher's droning, head slumping against an unstable hand as he gently tried to sleep in the remaining time they had in class. The efforts were futile though. A shrill bell that told him he could run from his seat pierced his skull and echoed in the students behind him. Following their lead, he simply picked his book bag off the ground and left. No notebooks on his desk to worry about, no pencils that might've dropped on the way; he didn't even bother to unzip it and empty the contents for the class. There were a hundred other things he could think of that were more important, yet he was stuck here. In that classroom. Listening to some old killjoy go on about her life and be forced to find meaning where there is none.

With heavy steps Jeongin came to his locker in the hallway and ripped the weak combination lock off, haphazardly throwing it inside the locker when it had been opened wide enough to do so. He hadn't even checked to see if it was loose before, for reasons unknown to him, he began cramming whatever textbooks or notepads he could into his book bag.

The lockers next to him thudded under a harsh weight. He barely gave the person a glance, primarily because he already knew who it was; he was the only person who still attempted to talk to Jeongin while they were chained up in this prison. Jisung slowly pushed the door of the locker shut and peeped around the metal barrier, eyebrows furrowing together as he skipped a traditional greeting and inquired, "What's with the serious face? Are your classes really that boring?"

"I don't want to be here," Jeongin told flatly. That twinge of irritation he thought was nothing more than a spark merely a few days ago starting to flood into his nerves. The weight of his book bag as he slung it over his shoulder and it collided with his back only added to the pressuring feeling that it was getting harder to breathe. He feared for the moment that pressure would become unbearable.

"Is this about Chan? Are you missing loverboy? That's kind of cute," Jisung had a sleazy smile as he shifted on his heel and leaned back against the locker row. Stop. But despite Jeongin's inner monologuing snapping at him, he wouldn't. Jisung pressed on, that same oblivious and happy grin tugging at his lips like there was nothing else in the world that mattered in that moment, "I know you like him. Or whatever you say. In some shape or form you have strong feelings when you're around him and you're attracted to that. My point is-"

He heard enough. From everyone. With a strength he didn't know he possessed, Jeongin grabbed the locker door and slammed it shut. The few students lingering in the hallway quickly shut up as the locker trembled. Next to him, Jisung went quiet with a violent flinch. The ex-student body president snapped around to Jisung, teeth barring as he seethed in a restrained acrimony, "My life isn't about Chan. His life isn't about me. If he wants to disappear for a few days, fine. I can't stop him. I don't care enough to anyway."

"Innie, what's wrong? You know you can talk to us if there's something bugging you," Jisung's face softened as he stared at his friend, voice in that instant leveling out into a tone that on would use to sooth a wounded animal. A dying animal. His hand gently came to comfort him.