Nadir ◈ Seungjin

1 ◈ Sulfur

The clock in the corner of the living room ticked gently. A timid sound. Not proud enough to speak louder than it's faint whisper.

He peeled his eyes off the seconds he unenthusiastically watched pass by, memorizing the time until it internalized and engraved the late night hour on his mind as nothing more than a note. With a heavy sigh deflating his shoulders, he returning the tired stare to the overbearing illuminance of the laptop screen on the desk in front of him. Stilled hands frozen in place on the keyboard starting to type his train of thoughts again. Bit by bit, the rapid tapping spreading numbers, letters, words, their distinction blurring together with his gaze going numb, on the half finished document overtaking the strain of the blue light. The strain on his mind too. How even though he wished to sleep against the cool surface of the desk, he ultimately knew the empty space had to be filled in before the sun rose.

In the subtle lighting of that apartment, a still met his eardrums. Unbreakable, save for the counting clock hoisted on the wall and the clicking of his fingertips against his keyboard. Unbreakable, save for the few blares of shrill car horns from the streets outside of the apartment's unspeckled windows barricading them from the night. Unbreakable, save for the hum of the ceiling fan's rotary above their heads sweeping the room clean of any of the summer heat that may linger from the boiling days. Underneath the fleeting sounds that dances around the flat's encasing walls. The rest remained still. Unbothered in the artificial lights casting down. The perfect diarama of what a house could be. The perfect model of what a home should be.

He preferred it that way.

He preferred the silence and few noises, over the loud voices which occasionally showed themselves to the space of the apartment. He preferred the gentle sounds which floated in from the world outside, reminding him in it's timid ways he was miraculously alive. He preferred the focus the undisturbed apartment yielded to him, it's simple intricacies allowing him to listen for the few sounds he wished to never hear again. He preferred the keyboard in front of him, and the silver service revolver sitting loaded on his desk next to him. Most of all, he preferred the lights on.

Because as he worked, he heard the faint thumping of footsteps shouting behind him.

He heard them nearing to the desk.

He heard them stop,

Before claws dug into his back.

His form went rigid underneath the touch, breath catching painfully in his throat.

Somewhere in his mind, he forced himself to remember that brief connection weren't claws. They weren't nails raking into his side like a tearing embrace, his stomach like a threatening grasp, his throat like a pair of fangs. They weren't sharp and daggered with stabbing edges, weren't an attempt to grab hold of his trembling form and pull him from the partition of iron doors into the deep shadows.

This touch was something fond against him, the simple press of fingertips against his muscles to echo his presence inside the room. Nothing more. Nothing less. The friendly invitation of a connection that murmured softly to the caught hiccup and rigid statue he became, it was alright to relax for a second. It was alright to trust that touch grounding him down to the stable floor of reality, because even if he didn't believe that touch wouldn't immediately sharpen into his skin and rip him apart, he tried. He tried to trust it's existence in the apartment, and the smallest part of himself hiding in the cowering corner of his blocked in heart, wanted to believe in it. Wanted to rely on it. Wanted to trust they wouldn't dig into his body and drag him into the cold of the deep dark beneath their feet.

The touch retreated from him. In the next moment, the presence of a person lowered beside him; Felt in the minor shadow it casted across his lap, in the calm breath gently disturbing the wet hair strands dangling over his ears, in the chest trying not to bump into his shoulder blades. Head peering over his shoulder to stare at the laptop screen, the other presence asked, "Seung, how is the paperwork coming?"