Meridian ◈ Seungjin

14 ◈ Indigo

"Hyunjin? Why are you laying out here?"

His eyelid peaked open by a sliver, immediately scanning the surroundings through scalding retinas at the intrusion of the afternoon sun bearing down on his exhausted form. The birch wood bench beneath his fingertips radiated that same warmth, a shelter against the chills jolting through his spine and echoing through the tattered cavities of his fried muscles relishing with the few moments to relax. Through the swirling cotton pressing against his eardrums he could make out the gentle call of other students. Running, worrying, hungering, chatting, finding friends along the concrete sidewalks, scurrying to sports club for practices too long for a lazy man to tolerate, others sauntering wistfully without much places or reason to go. He was at the center of it all. Laying sprawled on the bench, shutting out the hustle of the courtyard.

Jeongin was crouching in front of him. Sideways. The word had flipped on it's side while he was asleep. Slowly, Hyunjin lifted his head off the bench and watched as the younger fell into proper axis with the horizon. In other words, not sideways. As soon as the gears in his head spurred into a grinding start working well enough for a slightly infected mind, he allowed the tenseness in his neck to release. His head thumped back against the wood with a resounding thud, a mild ache in the abused spot beginning to throb as he muttered, "I woke up with a fever again. It's like my body hates me."

"If you're feeling this sick, we should go to the office," Jeongin quickly scanned him over. His fingers stretched out to the other vampire, the pliable pads melting into the back of a hand pressed on Hyunjin's forehead. A large part of him wanted to flinch away. Or move away, swirm from under the supposed gesture of comfortable, but against that untrusting self he stayed still to not upset the other. The hand began to move away from his forehead, attempting to offer an even deeper sympathy as the warm hand found his cheek, irritated with the rays of sun beating on him. Jeongin offered, "We can call my parents and you can stay at our house if you need to. I'm sure they wouldn't mind, they love you."

"No, it's fine. I'll be fine in a few days," Hyunjin shook it off. He bit back the small frown that began to develop on his face, Even if the only way is going to see Seungmin. The hand didn't leave him, and a stare from his friend continued to lock onto his face. After a few beats of silence, he murmured, "What?"

The younger drew closer to him. An odd look over came his features; A soft blur fanning soothing breath over the other's skin, the comfort from the simple touch rippling into his nerves. He had an even stronger inkling to budge back, even if that meant his head slamming into the tough backrest of the seat. Just as he was about to, growing evermore suspicious of the sudden lack of distance, Jeongin asked,

"So, kind of off topic, do you think you could kill me?"

"No?" Hyunjin denied, eyebrows furrowing up at the other. The tiniest flicker of guilt settled into his gut.

"Looks like I'll have to resort to being an emu farmer then," Jeongin sighed as his hand slipped from the other, denying any hint of context to the request and following statement. An explanation didn't come in the next second. Or the next. No matter how hard Hyunjin furrowed his eyebrows into caterpillars and tangled knots on his forehead to piece together some semblance of a reason that made genuine sense, an explanation never came. It's existence fluttered by, slipping far from his ears, growing farther by each second he wasted napping on the rigid bed of the wooden bench, sailing beyond volcanic tops of peaking waves beating rhythms on boat hauls and coughing treasures beyond what humanity charted. As if to add to the fact he would never tell the escaping reasons for the request, Jeongin backed away. He patted the other's leg, lightly telling him to make room on the bench. Hyunjin, begrudgingly, complied and sat up to not let his feet be crushed under the weight of the other.