Puzzle

Chapter Two

~In which they build the frame~

When Jongdae enters their shared dorm room the next evening Minseok is already sitting on the floor and has apparently started working on the frame. Jongdae feels somewhat betrayed but well, this is Minseok's puzzle after all and they never really said that they will only work on this together. But Jongdae can't help the sour taste on his tongue and he feels the need to spit it out in the form of words.

"So you started without me?"

Jongdae immediately regrets his tone when Minseok looks up to meet his eyes with the expression of a child that got scolded for trying to steal some cookies out of the jar.

"I'm sorry, I thought that after last night you might already be sick of doing this", he mutters, looking down at the two pieces he just connected.

"It's alright, I mean this is your puzzle and maybe I'm just in your way but I actually kind of enjoyed spending time with you. We never really talked much despite living together you know and I kind of always wanted to get to know you a bit since we'll probably be stuck in this room together for at least another year or so but I'm just really awkward and I wasn't sure how to start a conversation because everytime I see you you're either puzzling or studying or occupied with anything and I already felt bad for asking you about directions and stuff all the time and I should probably just stop talking now, I'm sorry."

Jongdae squeezes his eyes shut as if closing them could somehow avoid the tragedy he just brought upon himself. He really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. But when he hears Minseok laugh he carefully opens his eyes again.

"You're not in the way", is the only thing Minseok replies as if the rest of Jongdae's small breakdown never really happened and somehow Jongdae is really thankful for this.

"So can we do this thing together from now on? I might not be a huge help but I wanna finish this together."

Jongdae quickly presses his lips together before he starts babbling again but Minseok smiles at him. The soft smile. The 'it's okay I'll tell you where the library is even though I already explained it three times' smile. The kind of smile that says 'sure I'll go to the cafeteria with you to explain to you how things work there'. Apparently, it's also the kind of smile that says yes to friendship.

"Sure, let's finish this project together."

Today it's a little easier to make conversation. Even if it mostly consists of Jongdae asking random questions and Minseok answering them. He soon finds out that Minseok has a younger sister, prefers cats over dogs and liked to play football as a child. Jongdae, in turn, tells Minseok that he has an older brother, really likes all animals and that he can play the piano a bit.

They don't really make a lot of progress with the puzzle though. Jongdae is kind of lost and just tries green piece against green piece, yet they somehow never really fit. When he manages to connect two pieces for the first time it feels like finding that damn needle in the haystack. But instead of being really happy about it Jongdae feels irritated for some reason because what kind of idiot even drops the only needle he has in a haystack? Minseok on the other hand just keeps calmly connecting the pieces of the frame and already has a short line of them connected. It's really kind of frustrating and by the end of the evening Minseok has two lines of connecting pieces, both maybe as long as his lower arm and Jongdae has a small collection of connected pieces, the longest line measuring five pieces, but mostly he just has two pieces that he stuck together and then cast aside because he couldn't find the next one in line. They decide to call it a day and continue tomorrow. Together.