Meridian ◈ Seungjin

54 ◈ Tail

Seungmin breathed deeply. His chest inflated for a swift moment, before collapsing into the smallest form of himself.

Hyunjin had been watching him as his proud march dragged sluggishly on the concrete floors. Watching, and observing. Taking in the small hints and clues; The drag in his step, the frown on the ends of his lips, his crossed arms, his rounded shoulders curling as he gazed down to the ground. He took in every second of the other as he walked behind, the soles of his shoes meeting the casted shadow of the human stretching on the concrete floors beneath them. The only comfort either of them were offered came in the gentle breezes of the outside air, cleanliness and freedom which had been locked away behind the impenetrable defense of those tall brick walls. He watched as each gust made the human tremble.

He thinks it was the gusts of wind.

He hoped it was.

They approached the steps of the human dorm building. Each daunting stack of brick, plastered and paved together, slotting together so skillfully, so perfectly, as if each rough brick had prepared to wear their part of the mask. Each brick was prepared to sit as the husk of the dorm building, providing security, reinforcement, secrecy to the true workings of the building. To the people inside. To those who studied, stayed up late, procrastinated, rolled in bed, jokes, laughed, cried, each brick hid them from the blasts of wind shaking the whole academy down to it's pale skeleton. The bricks of the building provided a home. A safety. A practiced mask.

A practiced mask of bricks so finely built. An unreliable concealer of locks so finely adjusted. A trained veil of an iron fence so feebly honest. They were supposed to protect the students against the winds.

Against the shadows lurking behind their ever step.

Yet, here they were.

Hyunjin and Seungmin, who followed the trail of evidence left behind to the steps of the human dorm towering above them. Preparing to confront the awful truths which may lay inside. The horrible fact their safety may not be as secure as they believed. The uneasy idea, a guilty snake may have been slithering around their feet the entirety of their enrollment.

Jisung.

And all the paths that led to him.

Not if it fit quite right.

Before they could vanish inside the building, they heard a faint call behind them, "Are you two going to see Jisung?"

Seungmin and Hyunjin halted at the top of the cement stairs. They exchanged a quick look; The human quirking an eyebrow at the vampire as Hyunjin shrugged a lost response in return, before they both shifted far away from the double door entrance of the tall building.

When they turned, they were face with Minho waiting at the base of the steps.

His hand set on the painted railing, a foot already prepared to launch up the steps to join the two at the top, his eyebrows were furrowed until weaving lines were permanently sculpted into his ironed out features. His jaw tensed and clenched, biting down until the vampire could hear the faint grinding of teeth on teeth in the cavern of his mouth. Like the shredding of gears moving slowly against one another. The same sort of rusted bronze cogs that spun the machine of his mind, his overworking, never ending mind. The same type that plagued Seungmin. The same type that led them to conclusions. The same type that bred suspicion on shifted glares, until they found themselves standing at the gate of hell waiting to be ushered in by Beelzebub himself.

Hyunjin raked his eyes up and down the other vampire.

Seungmin tossed another glance to him, hesitating for a moment before he crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "If we are, what business do you have with us?"