drown for you | jjk

02

"Imagine having Sam and Ila in your apartment," you joke to Hoseok, who has his face pressed to the microscope.

"Mhm," he hums mindlessly.

"I think they'd eat the couch... What if I kidnap them, but I use Taehyung's keycard and then put them in Namjoon's house?" You chuckle, swinging your legs from where you sit on a counter, surrounded by lab... things.

"That'd be hilarious. Unfortunately, the cards don't work that way, so you'll have to avenge him in some other way," he says, referring to when Taehyung hid a dead fish in your bag.

"I guess," you say, feigning disappointment. You've gotten what you wanted.

---

You're hanging out at your usual place at Sam and Ila's enclosure when the last person aside from you heads home with a 'bye, see you tomorrow'. By now, you've almost forgotten your plan.

No point in lying to yourself; you're still nervous. But you figure that if you turn some lights on, it won't be so scary. After all, you're more curious than afraid. At the moment, at least. Who truly knows what will happen to your bravery the moment you step foot inside that haunted room?

Well, you're about to find out. Just like the night before, you watch the monitor flash green and the door unlock with a 'click.' Pulling it open slowly, you carefully peek inside to make sure no one is left.

The sound is heard again as the door closes behind you, and you start to look for the light switch. There are two, you find. One leads to a bright, very sterile light, which you quickly turn off again. The other leads to a more dimmed light, almost a little cozy, but still bright enough to leave you feeling tons braver than the previous night.

You've been thinking during the day. Something is in that tank—you know it—but it probably isn't dangerous. If there is a man-eating monster in there, someone would have told you, right?

There can't be more than one either, judging by how the water had been entirely motionless one second and then stirred the next. So it can't exactly be a school of piranhas. Whatever is in there would also need the ability to keep absolutely still, unlike some species of fish that have to always keep swimming.

Taking a deep breath, you decide to go through with your plan, and so you start walking towards the stairs, two small ziplock bags in your hand.

You still aren't going to stand on the platform until you're absolutely sure of what's contained in the tank, so like the day before, you stop at the last step and grab a fish from one of the bags. When the smell hits, you scrunch your nose. It doesn't matter how long you work at the lab; the smell never gets any better.

There's a dilemma, you realize. Either you put the fish down as close to you as you can so that if nothing comes for it, you can pick it back up and not leave a trace. But if something does come for it, maybe you'll be too close. Truth is, you'd never be able to see anything approach the surface with the water so incredibly dark, and maybe, if there is something down there, it might even chop off your fingers if you get too close.

You can always throw it to the middle of the tank? That'd be much safer for you, but you'd risk someone noticing if you had to leave it there.

Eh, there's probably some net on a stick somewhere that you can use if that's the case, and so you decide to throw it as gently as possible to the middle.

The silvery fish makes a small splash as it hits the water, and then it bobs on the surface before stilling. You wait, full of adrenaline, for something to come up and eat it. But nothing happens. Have you been a complete idiot? Maybe even imagining things?