Meridian ◈ Seungjin

24 ◈ Guesswork

"Changbin is an underground rapper, he would probably battle with you."

"I'm ready," The mentioned nodded along. He placed his palms up, an open challenge to whoever dared step foot into the boxing ring as he didn't ask, but commanded, "When?"

"No, I'm not—," Chan threw his head back as he cut himself off, an exasperation turning his words to pointed rocks on an otherwise flawless shoreline. His wrists slammed on the table, his fingers spreading into wide fans as they attempted to reinforce his desperate plight, "I don't want to have a rap battle with Changbin, when did I ever imply that when I asked you about how studying was going for your midterms?!"

Across the way, Minho made a 'Huh' sound and turned his attention back to his own stack of useless papers and scattered textbooks strewn randomly along the landmine field of the library table the four of them sat at. Next to him, Changbin seemed to deflate into the stiff chair when the other denied the unusual invitation. Chan's hands flipped over, his face scrunching as his palms slapped the wooden surface in an extended exhaustion of the other two's indifference to the conversation topic. As if an offering was usual. It wasn't even suspicious, strange, creepy, or uncomfortable, it was simply an odd suggestion to offer instead of a proper response to asking for study help. At the end of his contained rage, both of his palms turned bright red from his angry slamming, Chan's shoulder nearly rammed Hyunjin's face as he turned to the younger to ask for help.

Hyunjin shrugged a single shoulder at him as well, before propping up his elbow on the table and using the platform of his fist as a face rest. Oddly enough, or not oddly at all as it seemed he was becoming notorious for his constant state of indifference, he couldn't find himself caring more about their conversation than the current literature assignment spread out along the library table in front of him. His pencil danced on the lines of one of his many notebooks, taking note on any enigma that his teacher might happen to want to psychoanalyze until it's meaning had becoming nothing but a pile of mush in his mind. Yes, the author stating the main character is a worm could represent the character's internalized fear of death and the dirt that waits to bury him.

But, Hyunjin argued to himself as the tip of his pencil halted between the lines guiding his handwriting in the notebook, Maybe he's just a worm and we need to accept the protagonist turned into a worm.

Someone slid into the seat next to the distracted Hyunjin currently wandering the impressive wonderland of his internalized mind. If not for the shadow they casted across his literature assignment which shook him from the words, and for them accidentally bumping his chair while they slid into their own, the person's presence might've gone unnoticed in his mind. As soon as he was settled into the vacant chair, and he was aware of everyone's gaze welcoming him to the table instead of outcasting him like so many other students of the student body, Felix looked between Chan and Minho, asking,  "I heard from a classmate it's your fault we can't have minifridges in the dorm. What's the story?"

"The baby carrots," Changbin briefly told as he laughed to himself. He dropped his current stream of homework to fold his arms over his gut, fully prepared to listen to the tale for the hundredth time after experiencing it unfold first hand while a fist came to cover up the most of his joy at the asked question.

Minho glanced around the table, scanning over the available options for the retelling of the event. When all he received was a cloudy look from Hyunjin which screamed he was only present in the conversation for participation points and a Chan blocking his gaze from the others, he began to tell, "Long story short? Chan and I shared a dorm roon in our second year, we had the brilliant idea to steal those baby carrot packets from the cafeteria for the first half of the year, we neglected to realize baby carrots go bad, Hyunjin had to sneak the carrots out before anyone noticed, and the dorms reeked of baby carrots for a month."