Meridian ◈ Seungjin

46 ◈ Belail

Hyunjin walked beside Seungmin as they navigated the dorm building.

As they allowed a comfortable silence to be filled with the gentle this of their footsteps, the still of the hallway surrounded them. It was unusually empty. The once busy and chattering clumps of students peering around corners left blank voids in their wake as the shadows stretched long on the carpets. What few windows laid at the end of the corridors filtered in golden light from the outside they were locked from escaping to, the glow of the setting sun illuminating the crawling grime lurking in the spaces which the absence of light laughter left to decay. They could practically see the paint peeling from the walls the students used to lean their navy uniform blazers against. Now left uncovered. Now left bare, as their shields hid behind tied doors and zip tied windowsills.

Occasionally, Seungmin would lean too far one way or another, and the back of his hand would brush against the vampire strolling next to him. Occasionally he would sigh, heavily. Occasionally, he would pull the uniform sleeve to follow after as he rounded an unsuspected corner, his pathway seeming to be more on the scale of aimless wandering. Rather than missiled towards a targeted destination. At times, he seemed to looped back. Circling around. Going through hallways once again, once more time, as if he wanted to waste the time. As if he wanted to delay them parting and going their own ways, returning to their dorms, forced to stay enclosed in their buildings without much interaction.

Not that Hyunjin minded. On the contrary, he found himself enjoying the company of the human. He found himself liking the rhythmic repetition of the breaths as they synced, the bumping of their heartbeats calling and responding though the human wouldn't have been able to hear it, the falling of their footsteps as they marched together down the hall.

Though, something felt... Off.

It was a faint nose, far behind them. Like an echo. But it didn't match.

Hyunjin glanced to the hallway behind them. His gaze narrowed as he halted his steps.

Empty.

The human promptly followed suit after a few more delayed steps. He slowed, turning back to where the vampire stared. Seungmin prompted, "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing," Hyunjin shot as he raked his gaze over the empty hallways again, combing through every fiber which made up the barren scene splayed before him. No signs of life. No shifting shadows. No uneven footsteps. No rattling breath. None of the traits which alerted him in the first place. Upon finding nothing out of the ordinary once again, he forced himself to look away from the empty hallways behind them. Back to the waiting human, his eyebrow quirked and his hand propped delicately on a hip as he waited for an answer. Hyunjin shook his head, a gentle scoff dusting his lungs as he elaborated vaguely, "And that seems to be the problem. I just think I'm going insane now."

Seungmin dipped his chin as he clarified, "You mean, more than you already were?"

Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at the human.

"Well," He started again as he shifted back on his heels. His arms folded over his chest as he swayed, his feet crossing over one another in a mock runway step as he wandered himself back to the curled form of the vampire. Seungmin stood before him, his head cocked in a slight tilt to the side as if the unprompted angle would offer him a more viable angle to dig his fangs into the older. He lilted, "What is this about suddenly? Why do you now believe you're 'going insane', compared to the hundred times before where you acted properly out of your mind?"

"I don't know," The vampire sighed, his head shaking as he attempted to back away from the human.

Attempted to put distance between them. As there should be between a human and a vampire. A defensive space, bubbled a moderate distance around each of them, the correct space which other of them should have, and could have belonged to, instead of the invasive closeness both of them tended to encroach on unintentionally. Or intentionally. In Hyunjin's case, staying hypersensitive of where the human looked, where the human budged, where the human dared to inch closer than he should have, he watched the human exist so proudly in the empty hallway. Extremely aware of the steady thump of the intoxicating heart in his eardrums, masking the throb of his own aching numb in his chest.